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Cardano was launched in 2017. It is an open-source, blockchain-based platform that allows you to create smart contracts as well as decentralized applications (DApps) using open-source technology. Charles Hoskinson, Cardano's creator and co-creator of Ethereum.
Cardano's high transaction speed and accessibility are the main reason for which the ecosystem keeps growing. The platform allows for faster processing times than its main competitor, the Ethereum blockchain.
Cardano uses PoS ( proof-of-Stake), which is a key differentiator to the Bitcoin or Ethereum networks that use the PoW( Proof of Work). This allows users to earn passive interest in ADA, the native cryptocurrency of the network.
Through a process known as staking, ADA, the native asset helps to fulfill the PoS consensus mechanism of a network. This validates and secures Cardano's blockchain.
The PoW rewards miners who solve difficult mathematical problems in order to mine a block on the blockchain. The PoS system rewards coin holders for verifying and generating new blocks on the blockchain.
Proof-of-Stake is a greener alternative to blockchain networks and makes it possible to develop the blockchain without relying on hardware.
Most cryptocurrencies today aim to strike the right balance between speed, security, and decentralization. However, few blockchain developers are able to tackle all of these problems successfully. Cardano appears to be one of those few and the platform continues to grow.
When Cardano was launched in October 2017, ADA's price was $0.02. Since then, Cardano's prices have risen to an all-time high of $3.10 on September 2, 2021. In three years, the price of Cardano rose by more than 8000%.
Cardano's prices have risen 170% since July 2021. This was likely due to the hype surrounding recent developments. The price of ADA has fallen by around 20% since the Alonzo hard fork. Ten days after Alonzo was launched, the price for ADA reached $2.12 and is now the sixth most valuable crypto according to market capitalization.
As crypto exchanges have become more accessible and the ADAUSD price has risen, more people have begun to invest in cryptocurrency. Cardano trading is allowing a great transfer of wealth and even new investors can hope to profit from its fast growth and earn higher returns than they would on the stock market.
With so much attention from the media and financial traders, new cryptocurrency investors are always looking for advantageous ways (platforms) to buy Cardano (ADA) online. Luckily, there are numerous services and guides on how to buy Cardano to help you get started in the cryptocurrency market.
Where to Buy Cardano (Ada coin)
There are two ways cryptocurrency investors can choose when searching how to buy Cardano (ADA) online:
- Cryptocurrency exchange
- Online Brokers
Crypto exchanges might be a good option for holding your funds, especially if you plan to withdraw them to a private wallet.
Online brokers are another great option where to buy Cardano (ADA), which is increasing in popularity lately due to ease of trading, fast transaction, and greater control over the digital assets in your portfolio.
When you use a broker platform, you gain access to a comprehensive feature set that will assist you in more precisely calculating your strategies and risks. As a result, you will be able to add more indicators to the chart and use the built-in technical analysis tools. However, unlike an exchange, the broker platform will not provide you with the same large offer of cryptos to trade.
Additionally, global brokers like CAPEX also provide a few options to indirectly invest in Cardano and other cryptocurrencies: cryptocurrency Exchange-Traded-Funds (ETFs) and companies connected to cryptocurrencies (crypto stocks).
Such multi-asset platforms hand investors many useful financial instruments that can generate a passive income (interest with forex trading or dividend with stock trading).
Buying Cardano (ADA) over an exchange
If you want to participate in a crypto project development and own the digital asset, you can buy Cardano (ADA) online through a cryptocurrency exchange, such as Binance, Kraken, Bittrex, or Coinbase, and store it in a digital wallet.
Having an account on a cryptocurrency exchange allows you to send and receive Cardano (ADA). Transferring Cardano is like the way traditional bank transfers work, except for the bank account address, which is replaced with a Cardano address. Because digital currency is transmitted directly between individuals without needing third-party entities, such as banks, transaction fees are cheaper than those charged by traditional institutions.
If you want to hold your crypto for a longer time, it is advised to transfer them from the crypto exchange to a secure cryptocurrency wallet. Wallets are much safer, and each private crypto wallet has a private key. It is critical to keep your private key safe because you won't be able to access your crypto without it, and if it's easily available, your funds could be stolen.
Buying Cardano (ADA) through an exchange is for those who want to use it for day trading or purchasing crypto to transfer to a wallet. When you’re buying Cardano (ADA) through a cryptocurrency exchange, you own the digital asset, and you can transfer it to a crypto wallet or do whatever you wish with it. If the price of Cardano rises, then the value of your portfolio goes up as well. But if the price of Cardano (ADA) falls, then the value of your portfolio falls, while the amount of Cardano (ADA) remains the same.
Here are the main drawbacks when buying Cardano (ADA) through a cryptocurrency exchange:
- Cryptocurrency exchanges may not be regulated in your country and offer little to no protection for investors.
- The matching engines and servers on Cardano (ADA) exchanges are often unreliable, leading to the inability to access your account and control your funds.
- Cryptocurrency exchanges have many restrictions and limitations for their services, including transaction fees, withdrawal fees, and imposing minimum amounts for funding and withdrawing funds.
The good news is that investors can limit the risks presented by the crypto exchange by trading Cardano (ADA) with contracts for difference (CFDs). Cardano (ADA) CFDs allow you to speculate on the price of the cryptocurrency without having to own the digital asset.
Read on if you want to learn to trade Cardano with capex.com in the most convenient way.
Buying Cardano (ADA) with an Online Broker
Trading Cardano (ADA) with an online broker like CAPEX means that instead of owning Cardano outright, you’ll be speculating on its price with CFDs.
The main difference between buying Cardano (ADA) from an exchange and buying Cardano (ADA) from an online broker is that you don’t own Cardano (ADA) when you use a broker. Owning crypto requires investors to have a crypto wallet, either within the exchange or a private wallet. But when you purchase Cardano (ADA) CFDs using an online broker, the CFDs are stored in your account and are far more liquid, which makes trading CFDs more popular. Unlike cryptocurrency exchanges, online CFDs brokers are regulated by financial authorities.
The Alternative Way to Invest in Cardano (ADA)
Trading CFDs is a process of buying or selling CFDs and can generate a profit if the value of the asset moves in the direction of the investor’s prediction, or a loss if the market goes against him.
You can buy Cardano CFDs (go long) if you believe the value of the digital asset will increase.
At the same time, you can “go short” if you believe that the price of the underlying asset, in this case, Cardano (ADA), will decrease, by selling CFDs.
Trading CFDs provides leverage, and you can open your position by depositing only a margin.
For example, if a trader wants to buy 2000 Cardano CFD at $1.5 would only require $1.500 of trading capital.
It’s important to remember that leverage can increase both your profits and your losses, and they will be based on the full exposure of the trade, not just the margin requirement needed to open it. Potential losses, as well as profits, could exceed your margin.
Concisely, if you choose to trade crypto CFDs, you can profit from the difference between the buying and the selling position.
With CAPEX, you can trade CFDs on futures or spot prices. Trading CFDs on futures gives you exposure to the futures market, but without requiring you to take on any obligations or worry about any of the other nuances that are associated with futures trading.
Buy Cardano ADA CFDs - Go Long
Instead of taking ownership of Cardano, you can place a ‘long position’ translates to buying Cardano CFDs. Your position, or Cardano CFDs, will increase in value according to the increase in the price of the digital asset Cardano’s price increases. If the price of Cardano falls, then your position will lose value and can lead to loss.
Let’s assume that Cardano is trading at a sell/buy price of 1.57/1.60 USD. You want to buy 2000 CFD (units) because you think the price of Cardano will go up. Cardano has a 1:2 leverage or a margin rate of 50%, which means that you must deposit only 50% of the position’s value as position margin.
In this example, your CFD position margin will be $1600 (50% x (2000 units x $1.60 buy price)). Losses greater than the margin can occur if the price of Cardano moves against your position.
Outcome A: a profitable trade
If your prediction was correct, and the price of Cardano surges over the next hours or days, then you have made a profitable trade. If the sell/buy price is 1.80/1.82 USD when you decide to close your position by selling at 1.82 (the new sell price), then your profit will be $440.
The price has moved $0.22 (1.82 - 1.60) in your favor. Multiply this by the size of your position (2000 units) to calculate your gross profit which is $440.
If the position was closed during the day, there will not be any swap charges and the net profit is $440.
If the position was closed after a few days, there will be swap charges according to the overnight rollover specification, in this case, -0.0563%.
Let us assume the position was closed the next day, the overnight swap calculation formula will be:
- Overnight swap = 2000 (units) x $1.70 (price at rollover) x 0.0563% x 1 (days) = $1.91
Therefore, your total profit on Cardano CFD is your gross profit plus the rollover cost.
- $440 - $1.91 = $438.19 net profit
Outcome B: a losing trade
If your prediction for the price of Cardano was wrong, the Cardano CFD trade will result in a loss. Let’s assume that the price of Cardano drops over the next hour to a sell/buy price of $1.50/1.53. Because you want to limit the loss in the eventuality that the price continues to drop, you can sell at $150 (the new sell price) to close the position.
The price has moved $0.1 (1.60-1.50) against you. Multiply this by the size of your position (2000 units) to calculate your loss, which is $200.
Sell Cardano ADA CFDs - Go Short
In this CFD example, Cardano EUR is trading at a sell/buy price of 1.57/1.60 USD. Assume you want to sell 1500 CFDs (units) because you think the price will go down. Cardano has a 1:2 leverage or a margin rate of 50%, which means that you only must deposit 50% of the position’s value as position margin.
In this example, your CFD position margin will be $1,177.5 (50% x (1,500 units x 1.57 sell price)). Remember that if the price moves against you, it is possible to lose more than your initial position margin of $1,177.5.
Outcome A: a profitable trade
Your prediction was correct, and the price falls over the next 2 days to a sell/buy price of 1.40/1.43 USD. You decide to close your trade by buying back at $1.43 (the new buy price).
The price has moved $0.14 (1.57-1.43) in your favor. Multiply this by the size of your position (1500 units) to calculate your profit, which is $210 gross.
Let us assume the position was closed after 2 days, the overnight swap calculation formula will be:
- Overnight swap = 1500 (units) x 1.51 (average price at rollover) x 0.0118% x 2 (days) = $0.53
Therefore, your total profit on Cardano CFD is your gross profit plus the rollover cost.
- $210 + $0.53 = €210.53 net profit
Outcome B: a losing trade
Unfortunately, your prediction was wrong, and the price of Cardano ADA rises over the next hour to a sell/buy price of $1.67/1.70. You feel the price is likely to continue up, so to limit your potential loss you decide to buy at $1.70 (the new buy price) to close the position.
The price has moved $0.13 (1.70-1.57) against you. Multiply this by the size of your position (1500 units) to calculate your loss, which is $195.
If you are not ready to trade CFDs at spot or futures prices yet, we have also got educational resources like CAPEX Academy with free courses on how to trade. Plus, we offer a demo account – giving you $50,000 in virtual funds to build your confidence in a risk-free environment.
Investing in Cardano without actually buying Cardano
While buying and day trading cryptocurrency is a major trend right now, it is important to remember that cryptocurrencies are a volatile and risky investment choice. If investing in crypto on an exchange or via a broker does not feel like the right choice for you, here are a few options to indirectly invest in Cardano and other cryptocurrencies:
Exchange-Traded Funds - Crypto ETFs
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are popular investment tools that allow investors to buy exposure to hundreds of individual investments in bulk. That is why ETFs are a means of diversification for your portfolio and as less risky than investing in individual investments.
A crypto ETF allows investors to trade cryptocurrency on a traditional market and eliminates the need to trade the asset on a crypto exchange. Another advantage of trading crypto ETFs is that investors do not have to worry about the security aspects of trading crypto.
US investors can enter the crypto market by using ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO). The Fund provides capital appreciation through managed exposure to bitcoin futures contracts.
A Cardano ETF could come in 2022. The approval of a Bitcoin ETF means a similar offering for Cardano is imminent.
>> Learn what is an ETF and how does it work
Companies Connected to Cardano and Cryptocurrency - Cardano Stocks
Another option is to invest in cryptocurrency indirectly by investing and buying shares of companies that offer real-life products and services but still use or own cryptocurrencies as part of their business model (known as Cardano stocks). With an all-in-one trading account with CAPEX, you can also trade shares CFD of public companies like:
- DocuSign (DOCU). DocuSign agreements are tracked on blockchain and that allows every party involved to track and verify a document’s lifecycle. Learn how to buy DOCU shares
- VMWare (VMW). VMware Blockchain is the digital foundation that helps you run business-critical, multi-party applications. Learn how to buy VMWare shares
- MicroStrategy (MSTR). The company holds a total of 114,041 Bitcoin, which is about 0.543% of the total Bitcoin supply. This is also the largest public company to hold cryptocurrency. Learn how to buy MicroStrategy shares
- Riot Blockchain (RIOT). Riot Blockchain, a Bitcoin mining company has a strong focus in the North American market. The company has 2,687 BTC and is valued at $128 million. This number is expected to rise due to the firm's focus on mining bitcoin. Learn how to buy Riot shares
- Robinhood (HOOD). This is a popular US-based brokerage app that offers users to buy stocks, options, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. Learn how to buy Robinhood shares
- CME Group (CME). CME is a financial derivatives exchange that offers trades in cryptocurrencies as well. In Q3 2021, the company reported a 14% year-over-year increase in its average daily volume (ADV) at 17.8 million contracts. Learn how to buy CME shares
>> Learn more about stock investing
How to buy Cardano (ADA)
Are you wondering how to buy Cardano with CFDs? CAPEX offers ADA trading via CFDs on Cardano USD spot prices to speculate on the value of ADA against the most popular currency, as well as the brand-new PRO Shares Bitcoin Strategy ETF. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Create an account and deposit funds
When you trade on cryptocurrencies, instead of purchasing Cardano and other popular digital currencies, you can be ready to open a position much faster. You do not need a digital wallet or an account with an exchange. In fact, all you need to trade via CFDs is an account with a leveraged trading provider.
With CAPEX, you can open an account in minutes, and there is no obligation to add funds until you want to place a trade.
When you create a trading account with CAPEX, you will be able to:
- ‘Buy’ (go long) or ‘sell’ (go short) Cardano and other popular cryptocurrencies to speculate on their price rising or falling
- Take a position on our range of ETFs to get exposure to a basket of shares from an entire country, index, or sector that could be rising or falling in price.
- Trade a host of global indices to go long or short on the performance of an entire economy with a single trade.
- Use QuantX, the smart portfolio builder that helps you cover the popular industries and only invest in the top-performing stocks.
Step 2: Choose your Crypto trading platform
Our trading platforms can provide you with a smarter and faster way to trade Cardano CFDs – with personalized alerts, interactive charts, trading signals, and built-in risk management tools. You can trade via the CAPEX trading platform using:
CAPEX Web Trader
Trade on one of the most complete, fully customizable trading platforms on the market.
Available on desktop (Windows, Mac) and mobile (Android, iOS), it provides intuitive, web-based access to a vast range of tradable instruments, charting tools, analytical tools, and many more features.
To view Cardano's real-time price and chart on the trading platform can click on the "Search" icon located in the left panel or by clicking on "Cryptocurrency" and then select the instrument, in this case, Cardano (ADA).
MetaTrader 5
MetaTrader 5, one of the best crypto trading apps, is providing superior tools for comprehensive price analysis, use of algorithmic trading applications (trading robots, Expert Advisor), and copy trading.
MetaTrader 5 is available on both desktop and mobile.
Step 3: Pick up a Cardano trading strategy
Learning how to buy Cardano is easy but adopting the right Cardano trading strategy is essential to time the market.
The main Cardano trading strategies are:
Buy-and-Hold
Buy and hold, also called position trading, is an investment strategy whereby an investor buys Cardano to hold them long term, with the goal of realizing price appreciation, despite volatility.
Trend trading
Traders take a position according to the main trend (months to years). You can “go long” if Cardano is in a bullish trend or “go short” if the Cardano trend is bearish. If the major trend starts to slow or reverse, you will think about closing your position and opening a new one to match the emerging Cardano trend.
Day trading
All trades are performed during the day. There are no open positions overnight, though no rollover charges. Traders are looking to profit from Cardano’s short-term price movements (including scalping), and it can enable them to make the most of daily volatility in bitcoin’s price.
Hedging
When you hedge Cardano, it means that you use CFDs to counteract the Cardano price movement you already own. For example, if you owned some Cardano but were concerned about a short-term drop in their value, you could open a short position on Cardano with CFDs. If the Cardano price falls, the gains on your short position would offset some or all the losses on the coins you own.
Following the chart patterns and general trends can give you a hint to where Cardano is going.
Step 4: Set your Cardano orders
A trade order is an agreement to buy or sell a specific asset like Cardano at a specific price or price range.
To buy Cardano CFD with CAPEX, click on the "Buy" button and a window is displayed to configure the purchase order. You can choose among Market, Limit, and Stop orders.
Additionally, you can pre-define Stop Loss and Take profit orders, which are crucial risk management tools – that help you minimize the potential loss and maximize the potential gains.
How to buy Cardano with Market Orders
The simplest type of trade order is a market order. Market orders are usually placed by traders if they want to be certain trade is executed. A market order is instant. Therefore, it is simply an order placed by a trader to buy or sell Cardano immediately at whatever its current price is.
I want to buy 2000 Cardano (ADA) right now or as quickly as possible.
How to buy Cardano with Limit Orders
While a market order is simply an order placed by traders to buy or sell an asset immediately at whatever the current price, a limit order in its most basic sense, is an order to buy or sell an asset at a specific price. Buy limit orders are placed above key support levels with the purpose of limiting price risks anticipating the uptrend will resume after a correction (buy the dip).
The price for ADA/USD is currently at USD 1.49 and you place a buy limit order at USD 1.40, then your order is meant to execute at the price of USD 1.40 as soon as there is a matching sell order at this price or better.
How to buy Cardano with Stop Orders
A stop order is an order that becomes a market order only once a specified price is reached. It can be used to enter a new position or to exit an existing one. Limit orders are placed above key resistance levels anticipating a breakout after a consolidation.
The price for ADA/USD is currently at USD 1.49 and you place a buy stop order at USD 1.55, then your order is meant to become market at the price of USD 1.55 as soon as the price is reached.
Step 5: Monitor and close your Cardano position
To open a Cardano trade, you’d buy if you thought that the price was going to rise or sell if you thought the price was going to fall. Once your trade is open, you’ll need to monitor the market to make sure that it’s moving in the way you anticipated.
The technical indicators available on our trading platform can help you to determine what Cardano’s price might do next. Indicators can also help you monitor current market conditions like volatility levels or market sentiment.
CAPEX WebTrader can deliver an in-depth analysis of the charts and offers over 90 indicators (including moving average, MACD, RSI, and Bollinger Bands). The WebTrader platform also supports an interactive trading activity with high-end research tools helping you interpret market data.
Take Profit & Stop Loss
Traders can close a position immediately to take a profit or to cut a loss. You can use market order or set Stop Loss and Take Profit levels when you set the order to buy Cardano.
The platform offers the stop-loss option, which lets you clearly state how much you're willing to risk with your trade. Similarly, the take profit is the exact opposite. It tells your broker how much you expect to make as a profit and when you want to close your position.
Any profits you make will be paid directly into your trading account. Losses are deducted from your account balance.
When to buy Cardano (ADAUSD)
Investors should be aware of the fundamental and technical analysis when deciding when to buy Cardano. The fundamental analysis considers the news and events about the coins, exchanges, and other crypto businesses. The technical analysis uses the price value history to map the evolution of the supply and demand for Cardano.
Cardano Price Prediction using Fundamentals
When using the fundamental analysis approach, investors should be aware of the government regulation, latest cryptocurrency updates, and technical issues, as well as cryptocurrency exchanges that affect the supply and demand for cryptocurrencies.
For instance, when Bitcoin CME was introduced into the government regulations, and it drove the price of Bitcoin to almost $20,000 in December 2017.
An accurate Cardano price forecast using fundamental analysis considers the three main aspects:
- Blockchain metrics (hash rate, active addresses, transactions fees, and values)
- Financial (market capitalization, liquidity, trading volume, circulating supply)
- Project overview (team’s background, whitepaper, competitors, roadmap, tokenomics)
>> Learn how to forecast Cardano price with fundamental analysis
What is the future of Cardano?
In September 2021, Cardano recently also announced partnerships, including with Veritree, a global land restoration, and tree planting verification company. It will help protect the company's records on the Cardano blockchain. Rival, an esports and gaming platform, will develop NFT marketplaces using Cardano. UBX is a fintech venture fund UBX the will create public Cardano staking pools. And AID:tech will provide technical guidance for identity-based financial, payments, and insurance products.
IOHK published news of a new Africa-focused Cardano fund, which plans to invest $6m into blockchain projects across Africa. IOHK announced that it had formed a strategic alliance with US-based Dish Network in order to explore the Cardano Blockchain across satellite TV and mobile phones.
On September 2, ADA reached its all-time high value at $3.10 but fell to $2.02 on 29 Sept. The coin traded between $2.08 to $2.37 in October, as Bitcoin and Ether reached new heights. The price dropped to $1.78 by 22 November.
On November 24, Cardano is listed on Bitstamp, the latest cryptocurrency exchange in Europe, which might bring in the bull that will drive the price of ADA back to its all-time high.
Because is difficult to analyze the intrinsic value of a cryptocurrency, it is recommended you perform a technical analysis before investing in Cardano CFDs. It might offer some insight into the past movements of Cardano, helping you predict where it will head in the future.
Cardano price prediction using technical analysis
Some believe the high concentration of retail traders makes cryptos truer to traditional chart patterns and indications of oversold, overbought conditions, etc.
Technical analysis techniques can be applied to any market where the price can freely fluctuate, and data is available to see those fluctuations. The CAPEX Web Trader has a full suite of all the best-known technical indicators and chart drawing tools.
>> Learn how to forecast Cardano price with technical analysis
Cardano Forecast 2022
The short-term technical analysis of CoinCodex showed a bearish trend at the time in November 2021.
ADA real-time price chart shows a falling wedge and signals a continuation in the short and medium-term.
For a bullish Cardano 2022 outlook, the price should rise above the key $2 resistance level (the falling wedge upper band, the 50 days moving average, and the historical horizontal level) in order to solve the chart pattern to the upside.
The Cardano (ADA/USD), forecast from Wallet Investor was bullish for the long term. It predicted that the average price would reach $2.483 by 2021, rise to $4.837 in 2022, and hit $11.883 by 2025.
The ADA coin price prediction by DigitalCoin predicted that the price would average $3.63 in 2022. This is up from $2.93 in 2021 and rises to $5.86 in 2025. The prediction was that the average coin price would be $8.79 by 2028.
As of November 2021, the price of Cardano (ADA) stands at around $1.77. There are 33.31 billion ADA in circulation out of the maximum supply of 44 billion. The all-time high was reached on September 2, 2021 ($3.10). From the moment Cardano was created to the present moment, the coin had a price increase of over 8066.14%. As with any other cryptocurrency asset, Cardano has a volatile price, and investors should be cautious when investing in cryptocurrencies.
What Moves Cardano Price
The most important aspects that can influence the Cardano price are:
- Total supply
- Utility
- News
- Rules and regulations
Cardano’s price corresponds to the current supply and demand in the crypto space. Considering Cardano has a fixed maximum supply of 100 billion ADA, it is a digital asset that will experience scarcity as more investors join the Cardano trading market.
An important aspect of what moves the price of Cardano is the news.
In September 2021, the network’s developers announced that they are testing the smart contract functionality. This meant that the Cardano network is one step closer to becoming a true rival for Ethereum. This news drove the price of ADA to its all-time high of $3.10, on September 2, 2021.
In conclusion, should you Buy Cardano or not?
As with any investment, make sure you carefully assess your financial situation before investing in cryptocurrency, Cardano, and the stock market. Cardano can be extremely volatile—a single tweet can make its price plummet—as cryptocurrencies are still a highly speculative investment. Follow the already famous crypto investment phrase — "invest only what you can afford to lose".
