Whale Sell-Off Puts LINK Under Pressure—What’s Next for Chainlink?

• Chainlink (LINK) lost 15% of the gains recorded in the previous week as whales seriously dumped the asset amidst the ongoing broad market struggles. 
• The current market behavior was accurately predicted by an analyst who hinted at a short-term pullback to $20 and subsequently to $18. 

In a recent update, we disclosed that Chainlink (LINK) was one of the best-performing cryptos in the week leading to the US presidential inauguration. However, the asset has taken a serious hit to become one of the most affected assets in the recent broad market liquidation.

According to our market data, LINK has printed a decline of 15% on both the seven-day and the 30-day price chart as it trades at $20. In parallel to this, the 24-hour trading volume has also fallen by 47% as $879 million changes hands at press time.

Assessing its on-chain data, we found that the price was heavily affected by the significant liquidation by large investors, as 4 million worth of the tokens have been dumped in the last 48 hours. According to analyst Ali Martinez, the increase in exchange reserves is usually followed by price declines, which mostly underscores the loss of confidence by whales.

Source: Ali Martinez on X

More Data Confirms Negative Whale Activities of Chainlink (LINK)

Confirming this trend, data from Spotonchain indicates that a whale has sold around 161,463 worth of LINKs recently. Fascinatingly, this was a profit-taking action as the supposed address made a whopping profit of 200%.

The selling pressure was earlier spotted at the beginning of January 2025 when Santiment data disclosed that the 680 million LINK held by top holders on January 1 had been reduced to 679 million on January 4. Prior to that, whales holding a substantial amount of the asset had accumulated $76.9 million worth of LINK in just three days, as mentioned in our previous news brief. However, this had little impact on the price.

In the first week of January, the asset was trading below the VWAP at $23, with the Bollinger Bands also showing a short-term pullback. Per the analysis, it was pointed out that LINK could decline to $20 if the bearish trend continues. Failure to hold above this level could also see LINK breaking near the lower Bollinger Band at $18.84.

Against the backdrop of this report, Santiment data also shows that LINK has witnessed 1,659 daily transactions involving an amount of more than $100,000. According to data, this is the highest amount ever recorded since December 2023. Additionally, the number of active wallet addresses reached a four-week high of 9,531. Technically, this is a bullish indicator associated with a possible price surge.

Currently, the asset is reported to have entered a bull flag pattern. According to our analysts, this signals a temporal pullback before a breakout. Fascinatingly, the market could suffer more downtrend to find support at $16 before bouncing back. However, a strong push by sellers above the $22 level could also see LINK hitting the $31 and subsequently targeting the $40 level. Meanwhile, this analysis alludes to the thesis of crypto analyst Realmabbaskhan, which was reviewed in our recent publication.