Cardano Fell 12.6% This Week, More Than 6 Times Bitcoin’s Drop. Can ADA Hold $0.20?
Cardano just posted its worst weekly loss among major cryptocurrencies, shedding value at a pace that left Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana far behind. Now traders are bracing for a test of the one price level that has kept ADA from…
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The Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) price dropped by a staggering 14.6% in the week leading up to October 17, 2026. This decline marks the steepest drop among the 26 large cryptocurrencies tracked, significantly outpacing Bitcoin‘s (CRYPTO: BTC) 2.4% decrease during the same period. As of the evening of October 17, ADA is trading around $0.219, down from a high of $0.256 on October 12, and further dipping to $0.216 on October 15.
Though this drop is concerning, ADA is still up 7.1% over the past 30 days, reaching a peak of $0.282 on October 6. However, it remains a hefty 92.9% below its all-time high from September 2021, and recent price rises have failed to hold.
Traders are now closely watching the $0.20 mark as a crucial support level, where buyers have typically stepped in to halt declines. Throughout August and September, ADA briefly dipped below this level but bounced back each time. The key question now is whether ADA can hold $0.20 support after such a challenging week.
Cardano Fell Harder Than Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and XRP
On October 17, ADA posted a 12.6% seven-day loss before closing the week with a 14.6% drop. In contrast, Bitcoin’s decline was much more modest. Other major cryptocurrencies also performed better: Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) was down 3.4%, Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) down 5.2%, and XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) down 6.9%. This stark difference shows that ADA has lagged behind its peers.
ADA’s struggles have been ongoing. Over the last 14 days, it has plunged 11.8%, significantly reversing much of its gains from early October, when it had previously outpaced Bitcoin for the month.
Market Fear and Deep Losses Pushed the Cardano Price Down Faster
Market fear has weighed on ADA prices as traders grew increasingly cautious about a potential Bitcoin crash. On October 15, the CEO of BlackRock (NYSE: BLK | BLK Price Prediction) issued a serious warning as traders sought safety. Typically, when fear rises, traders sell altcoins—like ADA—first, because they attract fewer buyers during downturns.
Additionally, ADA entered this week already down substantially. Year-to-date, ADA is down 32.7%, while Bitcoin has only lost 6.8%. Over the past year, ADA has plummeted 64.1%. Holders with deep losses often sell during recoveries, causing any bounce in ADA’s price to stall.
Moreover, Cardano has faced its own setbacks. Recently, ADA holders voted against a funding request for Pogun, a project aimed at integrating Bitcoin into decentralized finance.
Afterward, Cardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, said future Input Output products won’t automatically launch on Cardano first. Although this development occurred before the current drop, it highlights a lack of strong catalysts to support ADA amid widespread market selling, which has also hit Solana.
ADA Has Broken $0.20 Before and Bounced Back
ADA last fell below $0.20 on September 17, hitting a low of $0.194. The day before, it hit $0.190, the month’s low, and closed at $0.196—the last time it ended the day below $0.20.
Buyers quickly stepped in, pushing ADA to close at $0.224 the next day, then climbing to a $0.282 peak on October 6. Since late August, every daily close below $0.20 has been followed by a recovery back above that level within a few sessions.
Despite this, recent dips appear to show weakened momentum. On October 15, ADA’s low of $0.216 was lower than its previous low of $0.224 from October 8. This suggests sellers are pushing the price down more aggressively and may leave less support at the $0.20 level. If that point fails to hold, ADA might revisit its August 18 low of $0.171 or the multi-year low of $0.138 reached in late June.
Can the Cardano Price Hold $0.20?
While ADA could hold the $0.20 mark on its first test, the chances of returning to its October high of $0.282 seem slim if the downward trend persists. Buyers have pushed ADA back above $0.20 after prior dips since late August, and the latest weekly low remains above this critical support.
For ADA to recover, it needs to stay above $0.216, reclaim the $0.252 level—its October 11 close—and then aim to retest the $0.282 high. The key level for holders remains at $0.190, the low from September 16. A daily close below this figure would indicate that $0.20 has failed as support, potentially driving ADA down toward the August low of $0.171. By contrast, holding above $0.20 could lead to the quick rebounds we saw in September.
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Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst who's spent nearly a decade making blockchain understandable—no easy task when most whitepapers read like fever dreams. He writes for 24/7 Wall St., covering Bitcoin, altcoins, and crypto market analysis for investors. Before crypto, he was a tech writer (back when explaining "the cloud" was peak innovation). Since 2018, he's written for CoinTelegraph, Yahoo Finance, The Block, Cryptonews, Zypto, Rain, and more—basically anywhere people want crypto news without the headache. Sam runs MacLabs Marketing, a content agency for crypto brands tired of sounding like AI wrote their website. He also publishes free crypto education on his site for Web3 enthusiasts who think "gas fees" is a typo. When he's not writing or staring at charts, Sam's either: - Watching anime (currently convinced One Piece has better tokenomics than most altcoins) - At the gym sculpting himself into a Greek god - Listening to the music your mum warned you only bad boys listen to Connect: LinkedIn | Email | MacLabs Marketing
