DeFi

Solana

Ethereum

Cardano

Cardano is one of the largest crypto projects in the market, but right now I still do not see enough to put ADA on my buy list.
This is not based on one bad week.
ADA has struggled to establish a convincing long-term recovery, its ecosystem usage remains far behind Ethereum and Solana, and price is once again trading close to $0.20.
Cardano is around $0.206 today. Earlier this month it traded above $0.28, which means a large part of that recovery has already disappeared. On October 22 alone, ADA fell almost 6%, and recent attempts to build momentum above the low-$0.20s have gone nowhere.
That fits the broader problem I have with ADA: I still need to see proof that demand is returning.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="the-ada-chart-still-does-not-convince-me">The ADA Chart Still Does Not Convince Me</h2>
Cardano’s longer-term price structure remains difficult to defend.
In case you missed it, I talked about all this in my recent YouTube video:
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img width="405" height="720" src="https://captainaltcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image-315-2.png" alt="">
</figure>
The recovery has repeatedly produced lower highs, followed by new periods of weakness. Buyers have had several opportunities to change that pattern but have failed to establish a sustained daily uptrend.
That is especially disappointing when viewed against the previous cycle.
Ethereum, Solana and XRP all reached new record prices in 2025. Cardano did not come close to its old peak.
Even during ADA’s stronger 2026 rebounds, price remained a fraction of the roughly $3.10 record reached in 2021.
At approximately $0.206 today, ADA is still more than 90% below that old high.
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img width="1024" height="512" src="https://captainaltcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/image-316-1024x512.png" alt="">
 <figcaption>Source: TradingView
 </figcaption>
</figure>
I do not need Cardano to immediately return to $3 before becoming interested. But I would want to see a clear sequence of higher lows and higher highs, not another short rally followed by a return toward $0.20.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="cardano-s-usage-gap-is-hard-to-ignore">Cardano’s Usage Gap Is Hard to Ignore</h2>
The <a href="https://captainaltcoin.com/cardano-price-prediction-this-bounce-could-send-ada-toward-0-27/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ADA price alone would not stop</a> me buying an asset if the underlying network activity were strong enough.
This is where Cardano loses me at the moment.
Recent <a href="https://defillama.com/chain/cardano" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DeFiLlama data shows</a> Cardano with roughly $58 million in tracked DeFi TVL. Ethereum has tens of billions locked in DeFi, and Solana has several billion. Cardano’s stablecoin market is also tiny by comparison, and its decentralized exchanges handle only a few million dollars of weekly volume.
Using the snapshot we examined for our Captain Altcoin video:
<figure class="wp-block-table table1">
 <table class="has-fixed-layout">
 <tbody>
 <tr>
 <th>Metric</th>
 <th>Cardano</th>
 <th>Solana</th>
 <th>Ethereum</th>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>DeFi TVL</td>
 <td>$57.9M</td>
 <td>$5.69B</td>
 <td>$48.18B</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Stablecoin Supply</td>
 <td>$69.2M</td>
 <td>$15.49B</td>
 <td>$142.47B</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>DEX Volume · 7 Days</td>
 <td>$6.08M</td>
 <td>$11.69B</td>
 <td>$7.31B</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
 </table>
</figure>
The comparison is extreme.
Solana’s TVL is roughly 98 times Cardano’s in that snapshot. Ethereum’s is more than 800 times larger.
The difference in decentralized trading is even harder to overlook. Cardano processed about $6 million of DEX volume over seven days, compared with billions on both Solana and Ethereum.
The latest numbers move around from day to day, but they do not change the basic picture. As of October 28, DeFiLlama still shows Cardano at only around $58 million in TVL and roughly $5.6-$5.7 million of seven-day DEX volume.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="these-numbers-do-not-tell-the-whole-cardano-story">These Numbers Do Not Tell the Whole Cardano Story</h2>
There is an important caveat.
TVL and DEX volume are not perfect measurements of whether a blockchain is successful.
Cardano supporters can point to decentralization, staking, governance, research-driven development and upcoming scaling improvements. There are also active efforts to broaden the ecosystem, including the Dijkstra testnet and ongoing work around Leios.
So I would not call Cardano dead.
That would be too simplistic.
My issue is opportunity cost.
If I am deciding where to put capital in crypto, I have to compare ADA with networks that already have far deeper stablecoin liquidity, much larger DeFi markets and dramatically more trading activity.
A good technology roadmap is useful. I still want to see people actually using the network at scale.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="what-would-make-me-reconsider-ada">What Would Make Me Reconsider ADA?</h2>
My view can change.
First, I would want the price chart to stop producing the same weak structure. ADA reclaiming the mid-$0.20s would help, but I would want a sustained series of higher highs and higher lows rather than another temporary bounce.
Second, I would want Cardano’s DeFi TVL and stablecoin liquidity to start moving materially higher.
Third, DEX activity needs to improve. Six million dollars of weekly decentralized trading is simply too small for a blockchain with Cardano’s name recognition and multi-billion-dollar market capitalization.
If those things start changing together, ADA becomes far more interesting.
Until then, I am not telling anyone to sell Cardano.
I am simply saying that, at roughly $0.20 and with the ecosystem metrics where they are today, I can find stronger setups elsewhere.
For me, Cardano still has something to prove.
For more crypto news and price predictions,&nbsp;<a href="https://captainaltcoin.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">click here</a>.
Subscribe to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@Captain-Altcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">our YouTube channel</a> for daily crypto updates, market insights, and expert analysis.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio">
 <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"><iframe title="2026 Crypto Card Ranking — Massive CHANGES Nobody Expected!" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gVOD-NjXLDo?feature=oembed" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-forms"></iframe>
 </div>
</figure>
The post <a href="https://captainaltcoin.com/cardano-price-is-still-weak-heres-why-ada-isnt-on-my-buy-list/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Cardano Price Is Still Weak: Here’s Why ADA Isn’t on My Buy List</a> appeared first on <a href="https://captainaltcoin.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CaptainAltcoin</a>.

Cardano Price Is Still Weak: Here’s Why ADA Isn’t on My Buy List

Table of Contents

CaptainAltcoin

Other articles published on Oct 28, 2026

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!