According to @ItsDave_ADA, Cardano’s peer-reviewed, research-driven approach emphasizes long-term value over short-term price moves, suggesting traders should focus on roadmap-driven catalysts rather than momentum; source: https://twitter.com/ItsDave_ADA/status/1963317915500921260. Cardano’s core protocol is grounded in peer-reviewed work such as the Ouroboros proof-of-stake family and relies on the Hard Fork Combinator to deliver upgrades in discrete, planned events—a cadence that defines when fundamental catalysts arrive; sources: Ouroboros: A Provably Secure Proof-of-Stake Blockchain (Crypto 2017) https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/889.pdf, Input Output Global Hard Fork Combinator overview https://iohk.io/en/blog/posts/2021/02/17/the-hard-fork-combinator-a-robust-upgrade-mechanism-for-cardano/. For trading ADA, monitor governance (Voltaire) and scaling (Hydra) milestones, alongside prior upgrade precedents—Shelley introduced staking (2020), Alonzo enabled smart contracts (2021), and Vasil improved performance (2022)—as these mark functionality shifts that can alter adoption trajectories; sources: IOG Voltaire overview https://iohk.io/en/blog/posts/2020/09/28/voltaire-bringing-decentralized-governance-to-cardano/, Hydra Head protocol documentation https://hydra.family, IOG blog upgrade posts https://iohk.io/en/blog/.