ADA loses 10th spot as Charles Hoskinson hints at buybacks

Cardano’s ADA rose about 1% over the past 24 hours, though the modest gain has not been enough to maintain its position among the top ten cryptocurrencies.

The token has slipped to the 11th spot on CoinMarketCap, after Hyperliquid’s HYPE moved into the 10th position by market capitalisation.

The shift follows a weaker weekly performance for ADA, which has declined about 4% over the past seven days, while HYPE has gained roughly 18% during the same period.

ADA is currently trading around $0.26 and approaching a descending trendline on the chart.

Meanwhile, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, has hinted at the possibility of introducing a buyback mechanism and outlined plans for a new ecosystem funding model that could roll out in 2026.

ADA fails to rally despite Hoskinson’s buyback plans

ADA is up 1% in the last 24 hours, aligning with the broader crypto market.

Its performance comes as Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, shared a video on YouTube on Wednesday titled “Cardano Funding 2026.

The video highlighted a revised plan for the ecosystem funding structure aimed at fixing inefficiencies in the current treasury allocation model.

According to Hoskinson, Cardano’s next phase will focus on delivering real utility and building a stronger Decentralized applications (dApp) ecosystem across the network. 

The new structure would see developers and dApp teams receive stronger incentives to accelerate innovation and adoption across the network. 

Hoskinson also proposes that Cardano’s treasury could begin allocating capital to a portfolio of ecosystem projects, such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi) platforms and other applications.

Returns from these investors should be allocated to repurchasing ADA in the open market, creating a potential buyback mechanism that supports the native token ADA while funding ecosystem expansion.

Hoskinson believes that these initiatives could strengthen Cardano’s developer activity, ecosystem, and on-chain utility, ultimately boosting investors’ confidence in ADA over the long term.

Cardano’s derivatives data support the current consolidating movement.

ADA’s futures Open Interest (OI) now reads $412 million and is approaching the February 12 level of $407 million. 

The decline in OI reflects waning investor participation and projects a bearish outlook. However, the funding rates support a bullish narrative. 

CoinGlass’s OI-Weighted Funding Rate data shows that the number of traders betting that the price of ADA will decrease is lower than those anticipating a price increase.

The metric flipped to a positive rate on Wednesday and now reads 0.0075% 

ADA could rally higher if buying pressure resumes

The ADA/USD 4-hour chart remains bearish as Cardano is trading at $0.2623 per coin, up 5% in the last three days. 

The short-term bias remains bullish as the price holds well below the 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages. 

The coin is currently facing resistance around the $0.27-$0.30 region as bears have rejected recovery attempts.

However, the momentum indicators signal growing buying conviction. 

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the 4-hour chart around 52 stays above its midline, and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) hovers above zero after losing negative momentum.

These indicators together reinforce a growing upside pressure. 

If the bulls push the price above the $0.27 resistance level, the next major zone at $0.29 would come into play. 

On the downside, if the recovery attempts fail, ADA will likely drop to test the $0.25 support level.

The support level at $0.24 saw buyers previously and could serve as another demand zone. 

A decisive move beyond either $0.24 or $0.29 would be needed to shift the current consolidation configuration into a more directional phase.