Cardano’s ADA spikes 25%, leads gains in crypto majors

Crypto markets added some 4.4% to overall capitalization in the past 24 hours as Bitcoin (BTC) saw signs of bottoming out and traditional markets showed strength at the start of this week.

Bitcoin regained the $31,000 level in U.S. hours on Monday after nine weeks of losses. That move came amid a relief rally in Asian markets, and technical data suggesting the asset may have bottomed out between the $29,000 to $30,000 range.

Cardano’s ADA token led gains among crypto majors with a 17% rise to trade over 64 cents on Tuesday. Fundamental catalysts include a rise in the issuance of native assets on the network – over five million assets have now been minted on Cardano, data shows – and the upcoming Vasil hardfork, a network upgrade expected in June that would increase scaling capabilities.

Price-charts suggest ADA saw support at the 45 cents level. Readings on the Relative Strength Index (RSI) – a tool used by traders to calculate the magnitude of an asset’s price move – fell to nearly 33 earlier this week, which suggested early signs of ADA bottoming out. However, the token could see strong resistance at the 80 cents mark.

ADA bottomed out the past week, but resistance exists at the 80 cents mark. (TradingView)

Ether (ETH) added 5.8% even as gas fees fell to lows. A fall in fees usually implies falling demand for the network, suggesting the move may have been led by traders betting on a market-wide revival instead of being driven by fundamental growth.

XRP rose 5%. Avalanche’s AVAX and Solana’s SOL added up to 4%. Memecoins dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) saw limited gains, rising just 3.8% and 2.3% respectively, to underperform the broader market.

Elsewhere, metaverse tokens saw a bump in prices. Axie Infinity’s AXS rose 46%, while The Sandbox’s SAN rose 11%. Growth in AXS came weeks after the game’s “Origin” version was launched in April, which created a demand for the tokens.

The relief in crypto markets comes amid optimism in Asian markets. Coronavirus cases in China dropped to under 100 for the first time since early March, spurring an increase in sentiment among traders betting on a wider economic recovery.

The rally in Asia continued on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite added over 0.70% since the session’s start, while futures on U.S. tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained 0.63%.