On Feb. 3, Cardano conducted a hard fork and successfully integrated the Mary upgrade to the testnet, transforming the blockchain into a multiasset network similar to Ethereum.

This event seems to be one of the reasons for the impressive 475% twelvemonth-to-date rally of ADA, and the altcoin is at present causing unexpected ripples in the derivatives markets.

Since the end of December 2020, ADA'south $81-one thousand thousand aggregate futures open up interest hiked to the current $580 one thousand thousand, becoming the 3rd-largest derivatives market, backside Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

Data indicates this was not purely a technical aligning, as Cardano's on-chain and trading metrics vastly outperform Litecoin's (LTC).

ADA futures aggregate open interest. Source: Bybt

A calendar week ago, Litecoin led ADA's open interest by a fifty% or college margin. That all changed over the past five days, equally Litecoin's aggregate futures position was cutting by 40%.

Despite facing a similar price correction to Litecoin'due south xxx% one between Feb. xx and 22, ADA had $125-million long contracts liquidations, roughly 19% of the open interest at that time.

ADA trading volume and on-chain metrics strengthen

Volume is the first and foremost indicator of investors' interest. Regardless of the cost movement, low trading activity reflects a pocket-sized user base of operations or a lack of new entrants, which is especially problematic for cryptocurrencies as an emerging asset class.

ADA and LTC 3-solar day average spot trading volume, USD. Source: Messari Screener

Although starting from a much lower base of operations three months agone, ADA's trading book soared in February, while Litecoin was unable to surpass the $2 billion daily boilerplate marker. Meanwhile, ADA'southward amass spot trading volume at exchanges currently sits at $ii.8 billion.

ADA and LTC 7-day boilerplate transfers and transactions, USD. Source: Money Metrics

Cardano'south on-chain metrics also provide insight into its rising use and ADA's rising open interest. Data shows that upwards to November 2019, both networks shared a similar level of transfer and transaction value. By mid-2020, Cardano took the lead, getting 10 times more on-chain activity. This difference is at present v times larger.

Overall, both trading data and on-chain metrics validate ADA's futures open involvement flipping Litecoin'due south.

VORTECS™ score (green) vs. ADA price. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

Information from Cointelegraph Markets Pro illustrates that the number of tweets from unique accounts discussing Cardano is 24% higher than the 30-day boilerplate over the past 24 hours. Tweet book is one component of the VORTECS™ score that identified bullish weather condition for ADA on Feb. 18, before the recent price surge.

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