Cardano’s 42% rally has real backing behind it – Now ADA is coming for DOGE

Recent Price Action and On-Chain Data## Cardano's recent parabolic rally has put it neck-and-neck with Ethereum in terms of performance, with both altcoins up 71% on a quarterly basis. However, while ETH has retreated nearly 2.5% so far in Q4, ADA has continued pushing higher, logging a 5% gain in the same period. This divergence is interesting, but it also raises the question of whether ADA's rally is being driven mainly by liquidity. Recent CoinGlass data adds weight to these concerns, with a massive $2 million long liquidation on the 7th of October, its biggest since Q4 2025. This implies that ADA is now seeing an even bigger liquidation cascade than during the October crash. ## Whale Activity and Leverage## The long squeeze came after two separate waves of short liquidations, each close to $1 million within just a week. Technically, this lined up with ADA breaking above the $0.25 resistance, which indicates that the initial upside was indeed fueled by a short squeeze. However, the picture is completely different now. With a prolonged long squeeze beginning to emerge, the same bullish momentum that fueled ADA higher could twist to the contrary. Recent Santiment data suggests that ADA's rally is more than just a short squeeze. According to the report, ADA gained around 10% from the 3rd to 5th of October, while Open Interest grew nearly 25% to 304 million, its highest daily close since at least early April. Even measured in ADA, open interest grew by about 13%, pointing to fresh positioning rather than just price-driven growth. ## Whale Accumulation and Leverage## The $100k+ ADA transactions hit a peak of 413 on the 5th of October, marking the highest whale activity since the 4th of June. It can be assumed that short covering contributed to the rally, yet the growing leverage and whale accumulation suggests that