Cardano has completed a golden cross on its short-term chart, with the signal appearing on the 1-hour timeframe. The MA 50 rose above the MA 200 in a crossover on the hourly chart, confirming a “golden cross.”
The signal coincided with a significant milestone on the Cardano network: the first hard fork approved entirely through onchain governance was activated on the mainnet.
According to Intersect, the V11 (van Rossem) hard fork has officially gone live on the Cardano mainnet. It is the first hard fork that DReps have been able to vote on, in addition to SPOs and the CC. The hard fork activates Protocol Version 11 and marks Cardano’s first upgrade approved entirely through onchain governance.
van Rossem hard fork update 🍴
The van Rossem hard fork has been successfully enacted on Cardano Mainnet! 🎉
We would like to take a moment to recognise the work of the Hard Forking Working Group to get us to this moment. Coordinating ecosystem partners, SPOs, DApps,… pic.twitter.com/SSleGfA5zE
— Intersect (@IntersectMBO) July 18, 2026
Aside from Plutus improvements and Plutus Cost Model enhancements, this upgrade lays the foundation for the next upgrade, the Dijkstra era hard fork, which will introduce Ouroboros Leios to Cardano. Enhanced primitives, VRF key uniqueness, and updated reference input rules were also introduced through the hard fork.
Cardano explorer ‘cexplorer’ also reported Cardano’s V11 (van Rossem) hard fork going live on the mainnet and confirmed that everything went smoothly.
What’s next for $ADA price?
At the time of writing, $ADA was up 0.55% in the last 24 hours to $0.165, with the price barely changed amid the short-term golden cross. Cardano’s price has flatlined below the daily MA 50, a key indicator for momentum.
$ADA price attempted to break above this level twice in July. $ADA saw a rise at the start of July, testing the daily MA 50 where it met resistance. This same scenario is playing out, with price pulling at the daily MA 50 but still unable to surpass it.
Cardano’s price remains locked in a range, with a breakout above the daily MA 50 at $0.168 necessary to regain momentum. If this is achieved, $ADA will aim at $0.256, which is the daily MA 200. Support is expected near $0.13 if the price declines.