Cardanos Ada received a new wave of optimism and purchase volume on Feb.26, pushing its price to a new all-time high of $ 1.29, making it the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView show that Ada rose 27% from a low of $ 0.98 in early trading hours on Feb.26 to its new high of $ 1.29 on record trading volume.
ADA / USDT 4 hour chart. Source: TradingView
After the integration of the Mary upgrade into Cardano’s test network on February 3, the project gained momentum during February. The upgrade enables intelligent contract functions and helps transform the blockchain into a multi-asset network similar to Ethereum.
Mary’s mainnet start date will be announced
The recent price hike coincided with the posting of the following tweet by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, indicating that Mary will be live on the mainnet at the start of the next epoch on March 1st:
Ladies and gentlemen, the missile is in the air. Maria will reach orbit in one epoch: https://t.co/7D9WTH68iw Welcome to the Maria era: “I was kind and good; Misery made me a fiend. Make me happy and I will be virtuous again. “
– Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) February 24, 2021
Ada briefly rose to $ 1.17 after the announcement before pressure on the broader cryptocurrency market pushed it back below the $ 1.00 level on Feb.25.
After that, the trading volume for Ada rose to a new record high of $ 12.8 billion, helping to lift it to a new all-time high. Open interest for Ada futures also rose to $ 580 million, beating Litecoin (LTC) to become the third largest derivatives market.
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, market conditions have been favorable for Ada for some time.
The VORTECS ™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points such as market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.
VORTECS ™ Score (green) vs. Ada price. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro
As can be seen from the graph above, Ada’s VORTECS ™ hit a high of 79 on February 25, about 24 hours before the price rose 27% to a new all-time high.
Smart contract features are the key component of the Mary upgrade and are expected to usher in a new era of features for the Cardano ecosystem. After the integration, decentralized financial applications can be operated in the network and offer users an opportunity to escape the high gas charges in the Ethereum network.
