Short sellers in Cardano are feeling the squeeze. Over the past 24 hours, more than $500,000 in short positions were liquidated as ADA traded around $0.25 — part of a broader $637,500 in total ADA liquidations that wiped out mostly shorts (roughly 80%), while longs accounted for about $135,200 of the losses.
Behind the surface volatility, on-chain and exchange metrics suggest accumulation rather than capitulation. Exchange flow data shows more ADA leaving exchanges than entering them — a pattern typically associated with long-term holders moving coins into private wallets rather than preparing to sell. Whale activity supports that view: the number of wallets holding 10 million or more ADA has risen to a four-month high, even as the price has drifted lower.
Technically, traders are watching a chart that’s been building for years. ADA has traded inside a horizontal price channel since early 2022, roughly contained between about $0.23 on the low end and $1.18 on the high. After its $3.10 all-time high in 2021, ADA slid and by January 2022 had fallen sharply, later settling near the channel’s upper range. Since August 2025 a descending trendline formed inside that channel after ADA peaked near $1.02 and began making lower highs.
Today’s price sits at a critical compression point where that descending trendline meets the channel’s lower boundary — a setup that often precedes a decisive move, either up or down. That technical tension is what an unnamed trader (shared by Minswap DEX’s self-described “chief meme officer,” Mintern, on X) framed as a “ticking time bomb,” predicting a rapid breakout to roughly $1.20 by the end of the week — a move of about 380% from current levels in under 48 hours.
Such a prediction grabbed attention, but it comes with big caveats. The call rests on an anonymous source and an aggressive timeframe; extraordinary upside claims demand strong evidence and a proven track record. Market structure and on-chain accumulation make a squeeze plausible, but rapid, multi-hundred-percent rallies in that window are rare and high-risk.
Bottom line: Cardano’s short squeezes and growing whale accumulation are notable, and the chart has set up a high-stakes inflection point. Traders should weigh the technical setup and on-chain signals against the credibility of bullish calls and the usual volatility risks in crypto. Featured chart: TradingView; image: Meta.
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