Cardano Price Forecast: ADA extends gains after Mastercard deal, Leios testing

Cardano (ADA) price extends a steady near-term recovery on Monday, inching closer to the long-term 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) near $0.2464. The recent partnership with Mastercard and the Leios upgrade testing lift ADA investors' spirits. The technical outlook for ADA shows an upside bias as bullish momentum recovers.

Mastercard deal and Leios testnet back ADA recovery

Cardano Foundation announced in a social media post on Tuesday that it will join Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program to collaborate on cross-border payments, business-focused transactions, and stablecoin settlements. This deal sets Cardano up for enterprise-grade scaling and could open the door to real-world adoption.

On the other hand, Cardano’s upcoming Leios testnet delivered 1,000 simple transactions per second in a simulation. The next upgrade uses endorser blocks for a parallel network to increase the mainnet throughput by roughly 20x without simply enlarging the primary chain. The simulation has increased the broader community's hope, although real mainnet conditions could introduce more hops, higher latency, variable bandwidth, and much more diverse peer behavior.

Technical outlook: Could Cardano extend a fresh higher leg?

Cardano edges higher on Monday, extending last week's 12% gains. The altcoin maintains a constructive near-term bullish bias above the 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) clustered at $0.2038 and $0.2029, respectively, while still capped by the 200-day EMA at roughly $0.2401.

Momentum supports the advance, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovering around 64 on the daily chart, signaling renewed buying pressure. At the same time, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) crosses above its signal line, flipping the histogram positive and suggesting persistent upside pressure.

Looking up, Cardano must reclaim the March 29 low at $0.2328 and the 200-day EMA at $0.2401 to sustain an upside move. Still, an overhead resistance cluster formed by a rising trendline and the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level, measured from $0.3136 to $0.1385, near $0.2632, could emerge as the immediate barrier.

On the downside, initial support is seen at the 50% retracement level around $0.2084, ahead of the 50-day and 100-day EMAs near $0.2038 and $0.2029, which could protect the broader bullish structure.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)