Chainlink (LINK) Whales $455 Million Sell-Off Blocks Price Recovery to $30

Key Takeaways

• Between Dec. 19 and the time of writing, Chainlink whales have sold 23 million tokens.
• This distribution has driven LINK’s price below $20, with resistance holding near $22.
• The daily chart shows bullish pennant invalidation, indicating that LINK could drop to $13.

Chainlink’s (LINK) price reached $30 in December, marking its highest push in nearly three years. However, by early January, the token had tumbled below $20.

Despite multiple efforts to regain momentum, LINK has struggled to break past $30 again. A key reason for this is the increased selling pressure from Chainlink whales.

For weeks, these whales have been offloading large volumes of the token. Due to this activity, Chainlink’s price might be challenging to rise significantly as other indicators reveal that there is no light at the end of the tunnel yet.

Chainlink Stakeholders Book Profits After $30 Mark

On Dec. 19, the balance held by Chainlink whales who own between 1 million and 10 million tokens, was 211 million. That figure has decreased to 189.67 million, indicating that whales have offloaded about 23 million LINK tokens.

At the current price, this is worth approximately $455 million. Typically, an increase in whale accumulation drives prices higher, which played a key role in the earlier Chainlink’s price increase.

However, the recent distribution, which has negatively affected the price action, has put LINK in a challenging situation. If whales continue to sell off the cryptocurrency, then the altcoin might not see a rebound toward $30 anytime soon.

LINK Price Nears Major Supply Zone

Furthermore, the In/Out of Money Around Price (IOMAP) reveals that LINK might face challenges in trading higher in the short term.

The IOMAP identifies key support and resistance levels by analyzing where addresses hold assets at a profit or loss. Strong support appears where large clusters of addresses are “in the money.”

However, a high concentration of addresses “out of the money” or volume of tokens suggests potential selling pressure and strong resistance.

According to IntoTheBlock, a major resistance level for LINK sits around $22. At this price range, about 10,000 Chainlink addresses purchased over 25 million tokens, which are currently in unrealized losses.

Thus, if LINK’s price attempts to move toward this supply zone, it could face a pullback. This is because some of these holders might try top breakeven, thereby, exerting downward pressure on the price.

LINK Rally May Continue to Fade

A look at the technical standpoint also confirms this bearish bias. For instance, on the daily chart, Chainlink price formed a bullish pennant while eyeing back to $30.

However, as of this writing, the price has broken below the support of the pennant at $24.10, invalidating the bullish price action.

In addition, the Awesome Oscillator (AO) has dropped to the negative region, indicating bearish momentum. Like the AO, the Money Flow Index (MFI), which measures buying and selling pressure, validates the distribution by Chainlink whales as its rating also declined.

Amid this price action, LINK is likely to collapse to $13.52. If selling pressure intensifies, the token’s value might no longer be in double digits.

On the flip side, this trend might change if whales begin to buy the dip. In that scenario, Chainlink might rise above the resistance at $26.03, which could lead the altcoin toward $30.