Cardano’s large holders accumulated more than 30 million ADA over the past week, briefly lifting Cardano to 15th by market value.

The Crypto Basic, a blockchain media outlet, reported on July 23 that ADA holdings in large wallets increased to 5.69 billion over the past seven days. Cardano briefly moved ahead of Stellar (XLM) in the market-cap rankings overnight.

On-chain data firm Santiment’s tally showed the purchases by large holders were closer to a steady accumulation trend than one-off trades. The market sees the move as a signal that major participants’ short-term outlook has improved. Large investors have the financial capacity to influence price moves, and accumulation is typically taken as a bullish on-chain signal even if it does not immediately lead to a sharp rise.

This accumulation extends a recent trend of expanding holdings. Earlier, wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA increased their combined balance to 25.6 billion. That is the highest level in about 3 years and 6 months. With more than 30 million ADA added over the past week, speculation is growing that key holders are increasing their positions.

A temporary shift also appeared in the market-cap rankings. Cardano edged past Stellar overnight to rise to 15th, but later slipped back to 16th. Still, the gap between the two is not large, leaving open the possibility the ranking could change again depending on ADA’s price moves.

The gap with higher-ranked tokens is also relatively limited. Chainlink (LINK) in 14th and Monero (XMR) in 13th are ahead of Cardano, but the market-cap differences are not large. That has led to expectations that ranking competition could continue if Cardano maintains its current trend.

The price also rebounded. Cardano traded at $0.1666, and its gain over the past seven days was 4.2 percent. Improving sentiment across the broader crypto market and whale accumulation appeared to support both price and market value at the same time.

Expectations for the long-term outlook are also holding. Charles Hoskinson (찰스 호스킨슨), Cardano’s founder, recently reaffirmed his previous view that ADA could re-enter the top 10 by market value before year-end. Assuming the market value of Dogecoin (DOGE), currently in 10th, does not change, Cardano’s market value would need to rise about 76 percent to about $11.25 billion.

As a result, attention is focusing on whether whales will continue accumulating and whether ADA can move beyond its ranking contest with Stellar to put pressure on Chainlink and Monero. Cardano is back in 16th place, but with the latest accumulation seen as not a one-off reaction, the market is watching changes in holdings alongside shifts in market-cap rankings.