Cardano (ADA) is holding somewhat steady after experiencing a slight slide a few hours ago, although this could just be a moment of consolidation before a possible bullish breakout on the back of supporting fundamental developments. At the time of writing, ADA/USD is trading at around $1.38.

During the previous session, Cardano’s Co-founder, Charles Hoskinson, shared an update revealing that the Alonzo upgrade’s white phase is nearing its completion within this week and that the final phase, purple, will begin next week. This stage of development will focus on onboarding third-parties like exchanges and wallets ahead of the upcoming hard fork combinator.

What really caught traders’ attention in this update is Hoskinson’s hint that he could confirm a date for the hard fork combinator (HFC) by the mid of this month after possibly receiving timelines from third parties on integration. Investors are keenly awaiting the release of the Alonzo upgrade that will empower Cardano’s network with smart contract capabilities and bring several other important features to take on its competition in the DeFi space.

Meanwhile, the Ethereum killer is also enjoying support from getting approval for its token listing in Japan. While the world’s third largest economy does permit crypto trading, it has very tight regulations and has approved very few digital currencies so far to be listed on exchanges. The addition of ADA in Japan’s crypto exchanges could further drive up its adoption and value.

In more supporting developments, leading crypto lender Celsisus Network recently announced its decision to start offering ADA within this month for borrowing and lending to its users. Starting August 19, Celsius’s users can take out loans based by ADA tokens and even earn more than 4% returns on lending their tokens on its platform.

Key Levels to Watch

On the 4-hour chart of ADA/USD, all the moving averages in addition to the MACD indicator are signaling a strong bullish bias. However, the momentum indicator points to some interest among sellers as well.

The price is well above the pivot point at $1.31 and looks set to test the first resistance level at $1.40 soon. A break past this key level will see Cardano face the next resistance at $1.49 after which it can go all the way past the $1.50 mark on increased buying pressure.