ADA Falls 4% on Heavy Volume, but Cardano's Upcoming Leios Upgrade Keeps Hopes Alive

Cardano’s ADA ADA$0.4167 token came under pressure Saturday, falling to $0.5818 and extending its weekly losses despite renewed focus on the network’s Leios upgrade. ADA declined 3.77% over the past 24 hours, with volume spiking 38.39% above the 7-day average, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis model.

On Thirsday, Input Output Global (IOG), the research arm behind Cardano, reiterated its vision for the upcoming Leios upgrade via a thread on X. The team explained that Leios is designed to optimize transaction processing and resource utilization, especially during peak block activity. The design introduces new mechanisms like endorsements to maintain security and data availability while boosting overall throughput.

Leios was first introduced in November 2022 as a new family variant of Cardano’s Ouroboros consensus protocol. At the time, IOG highlighted that existing designs such as Praos and Genesis faced fundamental scalability limits — not due to bandwidth or CPU, but due to algorithmic dependencies that constrained throughput. Leios seeks to address these limits with a major architectural overhaul, including faster chain sync, tiered transaction fees, and greater service prioritization.

The upgrade is not just a tweak to the existing system but a substantial redesign. While implementation will demand considerable changes, its benefits could be transformative. IOG Co-Founder and CEO Charles Hoskinson said on X on May 10 that he expects Leios to go live on the Cardano mainnet in 2026, a timeline that was reportedly accelerated from an initial 2028 projection.

Meanwhile, long-term holders continue to withdraw ADA from centralized exchanges, signaling conviction in the asset’s future.

Technical Analysis Highlights

• ADA traded within a 7.15% 24-hour range, declining from $0.605 to a low of $0.562 before partial recovery.
• The 17:00 hour saw a high-volume support zone form around $0.562–$0.576, with volume peaking at 175M.
• Price stabilized between $0.582–$0.588 resistance and $0.573–$0.582 support, signaling consolidation.
• Decreasing volume patterns suggest a potential accumulation phase.
• In the last hour, ADA dropped from $0.585 to $0.582 within a descending channel.
• A sharp sell-off at 12:48 breached the $0.583 support; price later consolidated near $0.582.
• Volume spikes at 12:39 and 12:48 (over 1 million units each) marked key inflection points during the session.

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