Cardano logs $48 mln inflows – Is ADA 26% rally a bull trap?

Key Takeaways

Cardano recorded a $48 million liquidity inflow as Open Interest (OI) surged past $1 billion in the past day. However, liquidity cluster data hints that a bull trap may be forming.

Cardano [ADA] has continued its rally, gaining 2.87% in the past 24 hours and bringing its weekly rise to 26.86%.

However, this may not be a straightforward bullish continuation. While analysis shows that ADA has a clear path to new highs, underlying market activity suggests it could be a trap.

Liquidity inflows hit a peak

There’s been a sharp rise in market liquidity over the past 24 hours across both the derivatives and spot markets.

In the derivatives segment, Open Interest—which measures the total value of unsettled Futures contracts—climbed over 3% to $1.21 billion, adding roughly $48 million to the market per CoinGlass.

Source: CoinGlass

This marks the third time this year that OI has crossed the $1.2 billion level—previously in March, when ADA traded at $1.17, and for most of January, when price hovered around $1.

These liquidity inflows are typically seen as bullish and align with prior rallies above $1.2 billion, which historically preceded further upward moves.

The spot market also shows a strong bullish stance.

Source: CoinGlass

Data from the Spot Exchange Netflow—which tracks net buying or selling pressure—indicates that over $14 million in ADA was purchased over the past week.

This buying pressure has helped sustain ADA’s uptrend, with the token trading at $0.7522 at press time.

On-chain confirms modest inflow

On-chain metrics also support the bullish trend, albeit on a smaller scale.

Total Value Locked (TVL) in protocols built on Cardano rose slightly over the past day, suggesting increased investor activity.

According to DeFiLlama, Cardano’s TVL has now reached $333 million, reflecting growing confidence in the network and a long-term bullish outlook.

Source: DeFiLlama

If TVL continues to climb, it could add further support to the ongoing accumulation trend in both spot and derivatives markets, helping ADA maintain its bullish position.

However, AMBCrypto’s analysis suggests this might be a setup—a potential bull trap—especially as ADA has started to move upward.

Bull trap forming for ADA?

Chart data indicates that a bull trap could be forming, based on liquidation cluster zones—key areas where price is likely to gravitate.

A close look at the 24-hour Liquidation Heatmap reveals limited liquidity ahead of ADA’s current price, with clusters only reaching up to $0.78.

Source: CoinGlass

In contrast, a large concentration of unfilled liquidity lies below, stretching down to $0.68.
With ADA still trading in a bullish phase at $0.75, it’s likely to reach for the $0.78 liquidity cluster before reversing sharply to fill lower orders.

The press time price sits just $0.03 below the $0.78 cluster, suggesting the move could trigger a classic bull trap and liquidate long traders.