The price of Cardano has surged roughly 17% over the last 24 hours after months of severe underperformance.
ADA has now surged to $0.32, with its market capitalization topping $11 billion. This allowed Cardano's native cryptocurrency to surpass meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) by market capitalization.
The latest price move seemingly came out of nowhere since it is not linked to any announcement.
While such sudden bouts of volatility are common for cryptocurrencies, there is some speculation that the most recent price move was triggered by whales manipulating the order books.
Whales, a group of ADA owners who control a substantial portion of the cryptocurrency's supply, are likely attempting to trick run-of-the-mill market participants into thinking that there is a legitimate rally.
If that is the case, the recent price increase might simply end up being a flash in the pan, and the price will collapse to the level it was trading at the day before.ADA was one of the worst-performing cryptocurrencies of 2022, losing more than 90%.
The cryptocurrency has been severely underperforming since the Vasil hard fork, which ended up being a "sell the news" event for ADA. Hence, the recent spike is certainly a welcome development for embattled Cardano bulls.
Other major cryptocurrencies are also in the green, with Shiba Inu (SHIB) adding 4% and Bitcoin topping $17,000.