Cardano rose 2% on September 12 to $0.208 as Input Output Group released the Hydra 2.4.1 security upgrade, patching a bug that let malicious actors steal funds from Hydra Head channels. On-chain activity kept falling even as the price gained, with total value locked slipping below 300 million ADA and active addresses hitting their lowest count since August 17.
Cardano (ADA) gained 2% to trade at $0.208 on September 12. Bitcoin rose to $77,300 and Ethereum rallied to $2,530 in the same broader market advance, which pushed total crypto market capitalization to $2.65 trillion. Some sources suggest the move tracked a recovery across the broader market after US CPI data came in line with expectations.
Hydra Upgrade Patches Fund-Stealing Bug
Input Output Group said in a post on X that it had released the Hydra 2.4.1 security upgrade and urged operators still running versions 2.3.0 and 2.4.0 to update. The patch requires every transaction to be fully validated, closing a flaw that previously let malicious users inside a Hydra Head submit invalid transactions before stealing funds. The upgrade follows Cardano's release of node 11.1.1 ahead of the Dijkstra hard fork, a change meant to improve the network's speed.
Network Activity Weakens Despite the Upgrade
Data from DeFiLlama shows Cardano's total value locked has dropped below 300 million ADA even as the network rolls out security fixes. Active addresses fell to 12,204, the lowest count since August 17. DEX volumes, however, ticked up from $1.13 million to $1.65 million, though that remains below the September high of $7.28 million.
Futures Positioning Splits by Exchange
CoinGlass data shows retail traders leaning bullish on ADA, with long/short readings of 1.89 on Binance and 2.18 on OKX, while Bybit's reading sits at 2.53. Large-trader accounts on Binance and Bybit are "extremely bullish," but the same cohort on OKX remains bearish. Smart money sentiment flips the pattern: it reads "extremely bearish" on Binance and Bybit, and "extremely bullish" on OKX.
Price Defends Support as Double Bottom Forms
Cardano has bounced from support at $0.021, a move that created a double bottom pattern pointing to a possible bullish outlook. However, the pattern would only confirm if price closes above resistance at $0.229, and ADA would need to close above the 200-day EMA of $0.241 to confirm a longer-term bullish trend. If the bullish case fails, ADA could drop to the 50-day EMA of $0.199. The MACD line is positive, favoring bulls, but its histogram bars are red and negative, suggesting that grip may be weakening.
Source: CoinGape
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