Cardano (ADA) is registering double digit losses in early trading on Tuesday, after a recent poll by Polymarket reveals that investors don’t expect the blockchain network to release its smart contract capabilities before 1 October 2021. At the time of writing, ADA/USD is trading around $1.06.

Currently, 59% of respondents do not think the Cardano’s mainnet will support smart contracts by October 1, which means that the Goguen Era’s key feature launch could be delayed. The much awaited function would give the network an edge over Ethereum in supporting DeFi, especially as it promises greater scalability, faster and cheaper transactions than the current leader in this space.

While the poll certainly spells a weak outlook towards the Ethereum killer among investors, most of the downslide in Cardano lately has been triggered by the overall sentiment towards cryptocurrencies. With market leader Bitcoin falling under the key $30,000 level, most digital assets are experiencing strong sell-offs, exerting bearish pressure. With the increased regulatory scrutiny being faced by companies and exchanges in the crypto sector, and the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 driving investors towards safe havens, the bearish sentiment is expected to extend into the coming sessions as well.

On a positive note, Cardano’s ADA could enjoy some support from reports about Singapore-based crypto exchange Bitrue listing support for native assets on its blockchain network within this month. The first user-defined Cardano token to be listed on Bitrue would be $OCC, OccamFi’s utility token.

Key Levels to Watch

On the 4-hour chart of ADA/USD, moving averages and the MACD indicator are suggesting a bearish bias. On the other hand, leading technical indicators RSI and momentum are exhibiting a bullish interest in the crypto pair as well.

Cardano’s price is holding below the pivot point at $1.23 and the immediate support at $1.09. Further bearishness can drive the price to test support at $1.01 and a possible breakdown under the key $1 level.

However, if buyers jump into take advantage of the low price and volatility, we could see ADA rise higher, beyond the pivot and towards the first resistance level at $1.31.