Behind Cardano 15% Correction: Here’s How Much ADA Whales Sold

After a quiet start to 2025, the price of Cardano had finally begun to build on its bullish momentum from the previous year. However, the altcoin has seemingly encountered a setback, with its value falling by nearly 15% in the past week.

While this downturn could be attributed to the uncertainty and drama surrounding Donald Trump’s inauguration, it could also be linked to the movement of large investors over the past week. Here’s how the Cardano whales sold in the last seven days.

In a recent post on the X platform, prominent crypto pundit Ali Martinez shared the amount of Cardano tokens offloaded by whales in the past week. This is based on the change in the wallet holdings of those who own between 100 million and 1 billion coins.

It is worth mentioning that addresses holding tokens of such magnitude are called whales. These entities are deemed significant as other market participants often watch their movements.

Due to their substantial holdings, crypto whales often wield significant influence over the market and prices. Historically, prices of assets tend to move in the direction of these large investors (prices rise during whale accumulation and dip during whale sell-offs.)

According to Martinez, the Cardano whales trimmed their holdings in the past week, offloading more than 180 million ADA tokens in the process. This sell-off is equivalent to around $185 million at the current market price.

While determining the exact rationale behind the latest whale movement is difficult, it is not unusual for whales to lock in profits, especially after a price surge. For context, the Cardano price jumped nearly 30% from $0.9 to as high as $1.15 between January 13 and January 17.

Furthermore, large-scale sell-offs by whales could indicate a shift in investor sentiment, especially if they expect a future price decline. They might try to cash in early to minimize or avoid losses.

Ultimately, whales shaving their holdings doesn’t often bode well for an asset (Cardano, in this case), as it increases supply in the open market. Increased supply without sufficient demand to absorb the selling could exert bearish pressure on ADA’s price.

As of this writing, the ADA token is valued at around $0.97, reflecting a decline of over 1% in the past 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, the altcoin is down by about 15% in the last seven days.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView