Altcoin season is heating up - is Cardano experiencing a DeFi renaissance?

In the last 24 hours, Cardano has become the center of attention as the market has shifted strongly towards altcoins. This opens up an opportunity to take a closer look at the Cardano network and see that everything is happening very dynamically.

According to data from LunarCrush, the social sentiment surrounding Cardano is increasing significantly, signaling a notable recovery. In particular, the recent growth has pushed the price of ADA to its highest level since December 2024, a time when the value of this coin experienced a strong breakout.

The last time market sentiment reached such a level of excitement, the Cardano network also witnessed a wave of strong activity. And currently, signals from on-chain activity suggest that a similar scenario may continue to unfold over the past 7 days.

Cardano network activity signals positive growth

The Cardano network has entered July with great promise, as impressive performance metrics are demonstrating a positive trend. Although the current DEX trading volume has yet to reach the peak levels of December 2024, the strong recovery over the past 7 days has attracted attention.

Specifically, the trading volume on the Cardano DEX fell to a low of $1.46 million on June 5. However, within a week, the network witnessed an explosion with trading volume soaring to $4.95 million on June 11, demonstrating a strong recovery.

The surge in DEX trading volume is not random, especially in the context of a week of market volatility. This indicates that the Cardano network is witnessing a strong increase in decentralized trading activity (DeFi).

The trading volume of Cardano DEX | Source: DeFiLlamaAnother noteworthy factor reinforcing the growth of DeFi is the significant increase in the number of active addresses on the network. From 16,100 addresses, this number has surged to nearly 27,000 addresses, indicating a growing interest from the community. However, although this increase is quite impressive, it still cannot be compared to the explosive levels of November and December 2024.

Nevertheless, this recovery is still promising, especially considering the level of network activity over the past week. Although the current DEX trading volume is still far below the peak at the end of 2024, these positive signals indicate that Cardano is in a good position to take advantage of the market recovery.

ADA ranks among the top altcoins benefiting the most from the latest price surge

Although Bitcoin has just recorded a new all-time high of over $118,000, its dominance has begun to decline since the end of June, opening up opportunities for altcoins to start attracting more liquidity. Among the altcoins, ADA stands out as one of the coins that has benefited the most from this growth.

ADA surged to $0.77 last weekend, marking a 37% increase from the weekly low, and recovering 52% from the July lows. This demonstrates the renewed interest in ADA after a long period of silence.

ADA Price Chart | Source: TradingViewHowever, although the ADA buyers have returned, the price of this coin is still far below the peak in December 2024, and even much lower than the historical peak of September 2021. This indicates that Cardano still has a lot of growth potential, especially as network activity continues to thrive.

Unlike Bitcoin, which has already surpassed unprecedented price levels, ADA still has a long way to go before it can retest its ATH price level. However, the recent surge in demand for ADA has confirmed that this coin has regained its appeal and is making a strong comeback in the market.

Another factor demonstrating the resurgence of ADA is the strong preference from the derivatives market. The open interest of ADA's contract (OI) is expected to exceed 1 billion dollars by the end of this weekend, the highest level since early March. This is a clear sign that investors are returning and placing their trust in the recovery of Cardano.

The trading volume of ADA derivatives surged above $5 billion over the past weekend, an increase of over 108% compared to the previous day. Nonetheless, this volume is still less than half of the spike recorded in March 2025, and only matches the levels seen in November 2024.

However, this sudden surge is attracting attention, and the current question is whether this strong growth is a temporary bounce or the beginning of a more sustainable long-term recovery process for Cardano in the future.

Annie