Cardano’s ADA faces leveraged trading risk near $0.28

ADA rose about 42% from Sept. 16 to roughly $0.27 before falling from above $0.28. Open interest reached $304 million, compared with $66.8 million in Cardano’s stablecoins.

ADA gained about 10% between Oct. 3 and Oct. 5, while open interest increased about 25%, according to Santiment data. Open interest measured in ADA rose 13%, indicating that traders added positions as the token’s price climbed. Funding rates moved from their most negative level in a month into positive territory during the rally.

ADA briefly traded above $0.28 on Oct. 6 before falling back. The token traded near $0.26 afterward, down 6.1% in 24 hours, while remaining up 5.01% over seven days and 17.6% over 30 days.

Cardano’s on-chain activity also increased. Seven-day decentralized exchange volume reached $42.6 million, up 147%, while decentralized finance total value locked stood at $71 million, according to DefiLlama. Cardano’s stablecoin supply fell 0.74% over the same period to $66.8 million.

Seven-day decentralized exchange volume was equal to about 64% of Cardano’s stablecoin supply. Open interest was about 4.6 times larger than the stablecoin base.

Large transactions increased during the rally. Santiment recorded 413 transactions worth at least $100,000 on Oct. 5, the highest daily total since June 4 and about 2.2 times the recent weekday average. ADA’s social dominance reached 1.16%, its highest level in 2026, while whale activity reached its highest point since June 4.

A move above $0.277 to $0.28 could affect traders holding short positions if open interest remains high. A failure to hold that range could expose recently opened leveraged long positions to liquidations if funding stays positive and open interest remains elevated. Stablecoin inflows, decentralized exchange volume and whale activity are additional indicators traders are monitoring.