Cardano (ADA) Faces Price Drop and DeFi Challenges, But Development and Institutional Accumulation Offer Glimmer of Hope
Cardano (ADA) Faces Price Drop and DeFi Challenges, But Development and Institutional Accumulation Offer Glimmer of Hope
Cardano (ADA) experienced a significant 5% price drop, extending a 10% decline from the previous week, driven by bearish trader sentiment and declining on-chain activity. Founder Charles Hoskinson attributed the network's underperforming DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL) to a lack of community participation rather than technological issues, noting current TVL at a mere $271 million compared to competitors. Despite these challenges, Cardano continues to show strong development activity, outperforming Ethereum and Solana in late October, and is seeing quiet accumulation by large investors (37.5 million ADA moved off exchanges), suggesting potential for future recovery.
Cardano (ADA) Price Drops Amid Bearish Sentiment
Cardano (ADA) continued its downward slide on Monday, falling over 5% to trade around $0.57, extending last week’s 10% decline. Market data from CoinGlass shows trader sentiment turning increasingly bearish, with ADA’s long-to-short ratio at 0.75, the lowest this month, indicating more traders are betting on further declines. On-chain data mirrors this negative outlook, with daily active addresses on the Cardano network dropping from 32,115 in mid-October to 24,280 on November 3, signaling reduced demand and declining engagement. Technical indicators also reflect weakness; ADA’s RSI sits at 32, deep in bearish territory, while the MACD histogram shows fading bullish momentum. Analysts warn that a sustained move below $0.55 could open the door to deeper corrections toward the $0.49 support zone.
Hoskinson Blames Community for DeFi Struggles
As prices decline, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has reignited debate over the network’s DeFi performance. In his latest podcast, Hoskinson criticized the ADA community for its limited participation in decentralized finance platforms, asserting that Cardano’s total value locked (TVL) could easily reach $5–10 billion if users embraced native DeFi protocols. He stated, “It’s not a technology problem. It’s a problem of governance, coordination, and accountability.” Despite over 1.3 million ADA holders staking on the network, few engage with DeFi apps, leading to stagnation. Current TVL stands at $271 million, far behind Ethereum’s $85 billion and Solana’s $11 billion. Hoskinson argued that without community adoption, attracting users from other ecosystems would remain difficult.
Development Activity and Institutional Accumulation Offer Hope
Despite its sluggish DeFi performance, Cardano remains one of the most active blockchains by development activity, outperforming Ethereum and Solana in late October, per Santiment data. Projects like Midnight and RealFi aim to link Cardano with Bitcoin liquidity and real-world lending markets, potentially unlocking billions in capital inflows. Meanwhile, large investors appear to be quietly accumulating. Recent data shows over 37.5 million ADA moved from Coinbase to private wallets, a sign of long-term confidence. Combined with steady token outflows from exchanges, this accumulation phase could lay the groundwork for a future recovery. As Hoskinson puts it, “We can pretty much do anything, the question is, can we do it together?”