On Tuesday, December 9, on-chain monitoring firm Whale Alert identified three massive cryptocurrency transfers involving a combined total of 150,000,000 Cardano (ADA) being moved to the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. The transfers occurred in three separate, identical transactions, each carrying 50,000,000 ADA.
Based on ADA's price at the time of the transfers, the total value moved exceeded $64 million. While the exact intent behind the transfers remains uncertain, such large-scale movements of tokens to centralized exchanges are typically interpreted as potential sell attempts by high-profile investors or institutions looking to liquidate their holdings.
The whale activity coincided with a period of negative market trend for Cardano, which had slid into the red zone, showing a price decline of 0.86% over the previous day. At the time of reporting, ADA was trading at $0.4290, having recorded an intraday high of $0.44. This places ADA near the bottom of its yearly range, having declined approximately 69% from above $1.30 earlier in 2025.
Despite the significant on-chain movement and bearish sentiment, the immediate market reaction was muted. The price of ADA barely moved following the transfers, suggesting traders were uncertain whether this represented imminent sell pressure or simple portfolio repositioning. The market absorbed the information and continued drifting sideways, with ADA stuck near $0.427 with no clear directional trend.
Interestingly, while spot price action remained sluggish, Cardano's derivatives markets showed contrasting strength. Data from CoinGlass revealed that ADA recorded one of the highest daily surges in futures open interest on Binance, with active futures contracts reaching approximately $138.86 million, representing a massive surge of over 7%.
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