Why is Cardano (ADA) price up today?

Cardano has recovered strongly, bouncing 12.5% since its $0.857 low on Jan. 28. The rebound comes after establishing support from its 100-day exponential moving average (EMA), possibly triggering its next leg higher.

At the time of writing, ADA’s price is trading at $0.956, which is up 7% over the last 24 hours.

Several factors are driving the ADA price up today, including:

• ADA price rally on Jan. 28 mirrors recovery across the broader crypto market.

• Cardano Foundation’s Plomin upgrade.

• ADA’s classic technical pattern targets $1.90.

ADA price rises with broader crypto market

The bullish sentiment was not only exclusive to Cardano as crypto prices also rallied across the board, buoyed by Bitcoin’s recovery above $102,000 after dropping to as low as $97,750 on Jan. 27.

Key points:

• BTC led the gains, up 3.3% over the last day to trade at $102,733 at the time of writing.

• Ether has rallied more than 6.8% over the last 24 hours to trade just below $3,200. 

• Other top-cap cryptocurrencies, including BNB Chain’ XRP , and Dogecoin , have also posted significant gains over the last 24 hours.

• The total crypto market cap has increased by 3.87% over the last 24 hours to rest at $3.51 trillion on Jan. 28.

This performance in the crypto market comes as market participants wait for the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates.

What to expect:

• The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) next meeting is scheduled for  Jan. 28 and Jan. 29, with a decision on interest rates expected on Wednesday, Jan. 29.

• There’s a strong consensus among market observers and analysts that the central bank will keep the Federal funds rate steady at its current range of 4.25% to 4.5%. 

• The possibility of interest rates remaining the same at the Fed’s Jan. 29 meeting now stands at a 99.5% chance, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

• The earliest possible rate cut is expected in June, with the odds currently at 45.8%. 

Cardano’s Plomin upgrade approval

ADA’s bullish performance on Jan. 28 followed the approval of Cardano’s Plomin upgrade by the Cardano Foundation on Jan. 27.

Key takeaways:

• The Cardano Foundation (CF), one of the entities backing Cardano, has voted YES to the upcoming Plomin Hard fork. 

• The foundation said it voted as a part of the Interim Constitution Committee (iCC), which was tasked with reviewing protocol changes on Cardano. 

• CF said the Plomin hard fork is constitutional, with a backing vote that comes barely 24 hours before the end of the governance action, adding:

“The governance action to hard fork to Protocol Version 10 (“Plomin”) is constitutional. It fulfills all procedural requirements, enables CIP-1694 governance and Plutus primitives, and complies with guardrails.”

• The much-anticipated Plomin hard fork is set to take place on Jan. 29 at around 21:45 UTC. 

• The Plomin hard fork is meant to turn the Cardano blockchain into a fully decentralized governance model where ADA holders can either vote directly or allow another person, known as a delegated representative (DRep), to vote on their behalf.

• The Cardano Foundation now becomes the sixth major entity to back Ploming, joining Input Output Global (IOG), the development outfit led by Charles Hoskinson, and other founding entities, including EMURGO, Intersect, Cardano Japan Council, and Cardano Atlantic Council, who have all voted yes to Plomin’s hard fork.

• Currently, 86% of all required votes have been recorded, with the Eastern Cardano Council being the only entity that has yet to vote. The approval threshold is pegged at 66.67%.

• This level of participation validates the upgrade and signals strong support for Cardano’s future, which can boost investor confidence.

• Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has announced that it is supporting the upcoming Plomin upgrade on Cardano.

ADA price eyes $1.90 next

ADA’s gains on Jan. 28 are part of a consolidation within a symmetrical triangle, which, if confirmed, would result in a massive upward breakout.

Notably:

• Symmetrical triangles form when price action consolidates between converging trendlines, typically preceding a breakout in the direction of the prevailing trend.

• The measured move for this breakout is calculated by adding the triangle’s height to the breakout point.

• This sets ADA’s long-term price near $1.90, up around 96% from current price levels.

• In the short term, critical levels to watch include the resistance zone around $0.962, which is also the 50-day SMA.

• ADA’s price has to overcome this barrier with strong momentum and volume to increase its breakout chances.

• To confirm the symmetrical triangle breakout and aim for the $1.90 target, ADA must also overcome the resistance provided by the triangle’s descending trendline at $1.13.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.