Cardano In Q1, The Highs, Lows, And Future Expectations

Cardano (ADA) had a turbulent March, as its value crashed from $1.1295 at the beginning of the month to its current levels. Notably, after breaching the $1 support, ADA could not reclaim that price level even when attempted.

Q1 Performance: A Bearish Turn After Strong March

Despite this downtrend, CryptoRank data shows that ADA registered a monthly performance of 4.04%. That represents a 3.64% growth, higher than its seven-year average performance in March.

Historically, Cardano has only stayed in the green three times out of the past seven years, with its highest performance of 62.2% in 2019. The other two high-performing years were 2022 and 2023, with an average of 18.9% and 13.3%, respectively.

This year marks Cardano’s fourth-best monthly average in March under review.

Image Source: CryptoRank

However, an analysis of the figures shows that Cardano’s poor outlook in February negatively impacted the asset’s quarterly rating. Cardano closed the first quarter of 2025 on a bearish note, finishing with a loss of 22.5%.

It means ADA could not achieve a three-year streak of closing the first quarter in the green. The asset had posted two consecutive years of bullish first quarters in 2023 and 2024, and many anticipated a repeat this year.

Key Developments in the Cardano Ecosystem

Interestingly, the Cardano ecosystem accomplished significant breakthroughs that many users thought would reflect in price action. This includes its introduction of the Starstream Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine protocol .

The move was to address compatibility issues with ETH-based applications and simplify and optimize operations. Many anticipated this would drive adoption overall and positively influence ADA’s price. There were projections that ADA price could clear the $1.20 resistance and reach higher levels.

Cardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, also teased the ecosystem about the Ouroboros Leios project . He highlighted the project as an innovation in blockchain meant to give Cardano a competitive edge in the crypto space.

Hoskinson hinted that Leios would improve Cardano’s consensus mechanism and solve Solana’s scalability issues.

Another notable ecosystem development that raised hope among ADA holders was the launch of Cardano Light Wallet version 1.19.0 . It boasts features such as the dApp Explorer, which is meant to provide users with easy access to their preferred decentralized applications.

ADA’s Recovery Prospects and Market Factors

As of this writing, ADA price was changing hands at $0.6597, a 0.04% increase in the last 24 hours. Trading volume has also climbed significantly by 55.71% to $726.26 million, reflecting the coin’s recovery within this timeframe.

Cardano was able to halt its downward journey by finding support at $0.630 and rebound from this level past several resistance zones. However, the coin continues fluctuating on its upward journey to reclaim $1.50.

Some analysts have projected that market participants who accumulate the coin at the current value could set themselves up for significant gain. They argue investors might record a 2.5x return if ADA climbs above $1.50.

Financial experts opine that ADA could record significant growth in April due to broader market dynamics. One key factor is a likely U.S. recession due to President Donald Trump’s trade wars .

It could push the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, causing a shift to crypto assets. If that happens, Cardano price might reach new heights.