Cardano (ADA), the ninth-ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has made a notable bearish shift from its historical trends despite gaining steam in key growth markers recently. ADA’s price performance for February appears to defy the historical path set by the coin.

ADA faces unusual February decline

Data from Cryptorank shows ADA is posting a 17.9% loss this month despite 15 days remaining. This bearish development marks a wide deviation from the coin’s average performance since 2018.

Cardano’s price has maintained an average monthly return of 29.2% for the past seven years. The coin witnessed the most returns in 2021, when it registered growth of 277.9% in February.

The other bullish years were 2019 and 2024, with 12% and 32.2% growth, respectively.

The Cardano price recorded negative growth in the other four years, with 2018 having the highest at 39.4%. Aside from 2020, when the decline stood at 11.8%, all remaining years saw single-digit declines for ADA, featuring 9.05% in 2022 and 9.95% in 2023, respectively.

Analysts emphasize that this could be the coin’s second-worst year unless ADA pulls off some surprises in the second half of this month.

According to CoinMarketCap data, ADA is trading at $0.7784, a 0.41% increase in the last 24 hours. The coin continues fluctuating between a low of $0.7627 and a high of $0.8051 as market sentiment shifted to Binance Coin.

Analysts weigh in on ADA’s recovery prospects

Market observers say ADA’s recovery journey remains challenging because the community lacks enough venture capital support. In the last 24 hours, the trading volume has dropped by 40.56% to $844.09 million, reflecting this sentiment.

However, some observers have highlighted critical price levels that Cardano must breach for the coin to reclaim higher levels. These include the $1 mark, $1.06, $1.37 and $1.6 for a bullish rally.

On-chain analyst Ali Martinez projects that ADA could move to $1 if it follows the growth path of Binance Coin (BNB).