Chainlink price consolidates as whales quietly accumulate millions of tokens, indicating that smart money may be positioning for a potential trend reversal.
Summary
- Chainlink whales holding 100K–1M LINK have added over 40M tokens in the past year.
- Despite a drop in trading volume, on-chain accumulation suggests reduced exchange supply and long-term holding.
- Analysts see potential upside toward $25 if ETF approvals and CCIP integrations continue gaining traction.
Chainlink is trading at $17.5 at press time, down 0.2% in the past 24 hours, extending its weekly decline to 2.6% and monthly losses to 18.5%. Over the last seven days, the token has traded within a $15.87–$19.02 range, showing signs of compression after recent volatility.
The 24-hour trading volume for Chainlink (LINK) has dropped to $864.7 million, a 29.7% decline from the previous day. According to CoinGlass data, derivatives trading volume fell 31.8% to $1.69 billion, suggesting fewer speculative trades.
On the other hand, open interest rose 1.17% to $655.1 million, suggesting that traders are holding onto their positions rather than liquidating them. This combination often indicates a build-up before a big move.
Whales keep buying LINK
On-chain data shows that large holders continue to buy despite recent price weakness. On Oct. 23, Santiment reported that wallets holding 100,000–1,000,000 LINK have added 40 million tokens over the past year, a 28% increase across 103 new addresses.
Accumulation has been steady across time frames — 12.9 million added in the last six months, 8.7 million in three months, and 2.8 million in the past month.
Lookonchain also flagged fresh whale activity on Oct. 23. One whale withdrew 62,207 LINK from OKX, now holding 1.1 million LINK ($19M) after months of steady accumulation. Another withdrew 66,113 LINK from Kraken, bringing their total to 307,684 LINK ($5.3M). Such purchases during declines can reduce the amount of the token in circulation and usually indicate long-term confidence.
Chainlink’s next few months could be shaped by key developments. Grayscale and Bitwise’s spot LINK exchange-traded fund filings are awaiting responses. If approved, these could attract institutional demand, which could push LINK closer to $25.
Meanwhile, Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol keeps expanding. Chainlink’s use case is strengthened by recent integrations like Plasma, a stablecoin-focused blockchain, which has already linked billions of dollars in liquidity from Aave and other decentralized finance platforms.
Chainlink price technical analysis
LINK is trading just above its lower Bollinger Band on the daily chart, indicating that it is getting close to oversold territory. At 41, the relative strength index shows neutral momentum. Limited bullish momentum is indicated by the fact that all short- to mid-term EMAs (10, 20, 30, 50) are below their resistance levels.
While oscillators like the commodity channel index and and Williams %R hover close to neutral, the MACD and momentum both display mild sell signals. Resistance is at $19.00, and immediate support is around $15.80.
If whales continue accumulating and LINK breaks above the $19.00 resistance, a shift in sentiment could send prices toward $22–$25. Failure to maintain above $16.00 could expose LINK to a decline toward $14.50, with weak momentum and low volume increasing the risk of a decline before a possible recovery.
