Cardano marks 5-year anniversary since $3.09 all-time high
Cardano (ADA)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
u.today reports that Cardano (ADA) reached its all-time high of $3.09 exactly five years and 11 days ago on September 2, 2021. This peak occurred just before the Alonzo upgrade, which introduced native smart contract capability to the network on September 12, 2021. Since that high, the asset has declined by 93.19%, currently trading at $0.21.
To reclaim the record, ADA would need to rally 1,371.43%. CoinGecko noted this anniversary in a post asking if investors plan to buy, sell, or hold the token. Cardano celebrates its network launch anniversary annually on September 23, marking the genesis block from 2017.
The project is now moving into the Dijkstra era following the launch of on-chain governance. ADA has also become part of the x402 codebase, enabling payments on mainnet and testnets. SundaeSwap is set to launch its v4 protocol on October 1 with features like modular pools and concentrated liquidity. Additionally, the Ouroboros Leios upgrade is 96% ready to showcase 1,000 TPS on the mainnet this year.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for ADA, measured when this story was written up on 14 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Whalio data shows ADA trading at $0.2035 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 50.7% and a 4-hour ratio of 50.4%, indicating slight buying dominance in the short term. However, the 24-hour buy ratio drops to 48.3%, suggesting that buying pressure is fading over the longer session. Volume deltas reflect this shift, with positive inflows of $23,689 in the last hour and $47,199 over four hours, contrasting with a net outflow of $505,154 in the past day. The Cumulative Volume Delta closed at +$26,270 for the 24-hour period, showing that net buying volume exceeded selling volume despite the lower ratio. This means that while more time was spent in selling pressure, the actual volume traded by buyers was higher. Net buying occurred for 15 out of the last 24 hours.
The latest daily buy ratio of 45.6% sits at the 5th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.2% - among the weakest buying days it has had.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for ADA, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the average buy ratio was 49.3%, making today's 24-hour ratio of 48.3% slightly below the weekly norm by 1.0 percentage points. Trading volume was notably subdued, registering at 0.44 times the weekly average. The asset experienced a price decline of 8.9% over the eight-day period, with a total volume delta of -$5,076,777. Only three of the seven days saw net buying, indicating a generally bearish week. This represents an unusual day for the coin, characterized by lower-than-average volume and a price drop that contrasts with the short-term positive volume delta.