As Cardano continues its consolidation phase, prominent investors are leveraging this moment to load up on their holdings.

Market watcher Ali Martinez drew attention to this development in a tweet, citing data from the intelligence platform Santiment. According to the disclosure, whales have accumulated more than 100 million ADA in the last few days.

Notably, these are high-net-worth individuals who typically hold between 100 million to 1 billion Cardano tokens. They deployed an additional $110 million to buy ADA when the token was just above $1. As of Thursday, when the trend was observed, their cumulative holdings expanded to 3.26 billion ADA tokens.

Typical Patterns of Cardano Whales During Dips and Uptrends

Interestingly, the accompanying chart pointed to a consistent pattern in whales accumulation trend and the subsequent price action of ADA. It depicted that, over the last 30 days, these whales often accumulate ADA during dips and sell their holdings when the price pumps.

For instance, in the second week of November, when ADA was between the $0.50 and $0.60 range, these whales deployed capital to accumulate the tokens massively. By the third week, when ADA broke out to the $0.70 and $0.80 range, they took profits, reducing their holdings significantly.

Likewise, when Cardano briefly dipped after reclaiming $1, the whales leveraged the dip to buy more ADA, only to sell when it pumped again. This pattern has recurred several times during these recent periods of heightened interest in Cardano.

Meanwhile, their overall buying has exceeded their selling, as their total holdings continue to grow, staying higher than previous levels before Cardano’s breakout.

Overall Uptrend in Whale Holdings of Cardano

As reported earlier, between October 18 and November 18, Cardano whales increased their holdings by 145%, reaching $12.11 billion. Investors with over $10 million in ADA saw the largest growth, while wallets holding between $100K and $1 million grew 106% to $4.36 billion.

Meanwhile, those holding between $1 million and $10 million saw their holdings rise 83% to $3.9 billion. Conversely, retail investors reduced their holdings by 39%, leaving just $285,490. Those with between $10K and $100K in ADA also sold off, reducing their Cardano exposure by 7.65%.

Now that Cardano is trading in the red and whales are buying, it suggests that the asset could see a continuation of the bull rally in the coming days before another correction. At press time, ADA is trading at $1.19, down by 2.64% in the last 24 hours.

Amid the recent Cardano purple patch and Dogecoin’s underwhelming outing, an analyst has speculated that ADA would flip the meme coin in market cap.

An analysis of Cardano and Dogecoin shows that the former has recently outperformed the meme coin king. For context, Cardano has grown 14.4% in the past seven days, while Dogecoin has appreciated 7%.

The high-utility L1 token also outmatched the meme coin king in higher timeframes. In the past 30 days, Cardano is up a staggering 233%, while Dogecoin has managed a 116% growth.

Time is Approaching for the Flip: Analyst

Amid the ongoing price movements, notable Cardano bull and market expert Dan Gambardello has envisioned an ambitious event where ADA will flip Dogecoin in market rankings. In an X post on Thursday, he speculated on the event, presenting the price Cardano must attain to secure the move.

Notably, after flipping Cardano earlier in the year, Dogecoin surpassed XRP and USDC to become the sixth-largest crypto by market cap amid a $69 billion valuation last month. However, the meme coin has receded considerably from its November peak of $0.47992 and is currently valued at $64 billion. 

Meanwhile, Cardano has been on a bullish outbreak spurred by strong macroeconomic boosts around its ecosystem. ADA reached a multi-month price high earlier in December, pushing its market cap to an intramonth high of $45.8 billion.

With the bullish event unfolding for Cardano, Gambardello has speculated that Cardano will soon surpass Dogecoin. He inferred that a surge to $1.84 would send Cardano past Dogecoin as the market stands.

The analyst stated that the time for Cardano to hit $1.84 per coin is approaching. Hence, the flip event is imminent. 

Cardano to $1.84 Soon?

Notably, Gambardello’s imminent assertion implies he is speculating Cardano will trade at $1.84 soon. However, he did not place a timeline for the price attainment or the Dogecoin overthrow.

For context, with a total supply of $45 billion, a surge to $1.84 would push Cardano to a market cap of $64.63 billion. At the current market condition, this is slightly above Dogecoin’s current cap of $64.3 billion.

Meanwhile, the analyst earlier asserted an ADA push to $3. The Crypto Basic reported that the Cardano bull stated that the coin would surge to the price if it received exchange-traded fund (ETF) news like XRP did.

Nonetheless, analysts have placed higher price predictions for Cardano, with Ali Martinez insisting on a surge to $6. Market pundit Lark Davis also asserted that the asset would ultimately hit $10 this cycle.

In the meantime, Cardano trades at $1.19, down less than 1% in the past 24 hours and with a market cap of $41.81 billion.