Cardano Price Prediction Ahead of Midnight, Pentad, and Leios Launches - The Market Periodical

Key Insights

• Cardano price has rebounded in the past few days, mirroring the recent crypto rebound.
• The developers are working on the Midnight mainnet launch in Q1.
• Other initiatives are Leios and Pentad that will boost its network.

Cardano price rebounded in the last two days as investors started their return after the Christmas holiday break.

ADA jumped to a high of $0.3976, its highest level since December 14 and 18% above the lowest point this week. This article explores the three potential fundamental catalysts for the ADA token.

Pentad Initiative May Boost Cardano Price

Cardano has underperformed peers like Solana and Ethereum because investors view it as a ghost chain. This perception has consistently weighed on its price performance.

Its ecosystem has not grown over the years. With this, the DeFi TVL remained below $500 million, and its stablecoin supply was below $40 million.

The Pentad proposal will have Emurgo, Cardano Foundation, and Midnight Foundation spend 70 million ADA tokens. They aim to strengthen the network’s foundation and boost its growth.

For example, Pentad aims to bring tier-1 stablecoins like USDC and USDT to the network. It’s a move that will benefit it after the signing of the GENIUS Act.

Also, the developers aim to bring the biggest oracle networks to Cardano. It’s a move that will enable the movement of off-chain data to the on-chain. The network has already onboarded Pyth Network, the fifth biggest oracle network, to its ecosystem.

Pentad will likely work on integrating with other oracles like Chainlink and RedStone. Additionally, Pentad will also bring more data analytics tools and integrations, allowing users to gauge its usage.

It has already integrated with Dune Analytics, and the goal is to bring in more platforms like Nansen, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant.

Cardano aims that these initiatives will make it a major competitor to Solana, BNB, and Ethereum. This may help boost its price.

Leios Upgrade to Boost Cardano’s Performance

In addition to Pentad, Cardano is also working on the Leios upgrade, which will be one of the biggest in history.

Leios will supercharge Cardano’s network by introducing the concept of parallel block processing. It’s a move that will enable it to handle thousands of transactions per second (TPS).

Leios will do that by introducing input, endorsement, and ranking blocks. This will all work together to confirm transactions at a faster pace.

It will also introduce more security features and the ability to handle between 1,000 and 10,000 transactions per second. It is common for cryptocurrencies to rise ahead and after a major upgrade, and Cardano may do the same.

Midnight Mainnet Launch

The other notable catalyst for the Cardano price will be the upcoming launch of Midnight’s mainnet. Midnight, a sidechain focused on privacy, will move from the highly successful testnet to the mainnet in the current quarter.

Data shows that the number of epochs in the testnet has jumped to over 245,000. At the same time, the number of blocks produced has soared to over 3.1 million.

Most importantly, the NIGHT token, which was launched in December, has gained a market capitalization of over $1.4 billion. Also, it is one of the most actively traded tokens in the crypto industry.

NIGHT’s launch has had an immediate impact on Cardano’s network. With this, the DeFiLlama data showed that the DEX volume jumped to $220 million in December, the highest level since December 2024.

ADA Price Technical Analysis

The three-day chart shows that the ADA price has been in a freefall in the past few months. This mirrored the broader crypto market crash.

Cardano has now formed a bullish engulfing pattern. It is made up of a bigger bullish candle that fully engulfs a smaller bearish one.

The bullish engulfing pattern formed after the token dropped to a crucial support level.

The token will likely rebound and test the resistance at $0.5100. This level marked the lows in February, April, and June last year. Such a move will point to a 32% jump from the current level.