Why did the price of LINK fall?

Chainlink's 6.7% decline over the past 24 hours is linked to weakness in the broader crypto market and technical breakdowns below key support levels.

Market-wide pullback – Total crypto market cap down 3%, Bitcoin dominance up

Technical rejection – Failure to retest the $17.35 pivot point triggered stop-loss orders

Whale accumulation paradox – Large-scale withdrawals reduced selling pressure but failed to halt the downward trend

In-Depth Analysis

1. Market Dynamics

The crypto market lost $117 billion (3%) in value over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin dominance rose to 61.15%, and capital shifted from altcoins to Bitcoin. Chainlink's 6.7% decline exceeded the average altcoin decline of 4.1%, indicating that technical factors specific to LINK amplified the decline. Derivatives data shows that there was 21.85 billion dollars in liquidations across the market, with altcoins being more affected by forced sales (CoinGlass).

2. Technical Context

LINK quickly fell below critical levels:

- 17.35 dollar pivot point – Previous support level, now acting as resistance

- $17.39 Fibonacci level – The 38.2% retracement point of the July rally

- Death cross – The 7-day simple moving average ($18.07) fell below the 30-day average ($16.46)

The MACD histogram turned negative (-0.26) for the first time since July 25, confirming the downward momentum. On the hourly charts, intense selling occurred when LINK failed to retake the 17.20 USD level at 10:30 UTC on August 1, resulting in a 4.2 million USD long position liquidation (CoinMarketCap derivatives).

Conclusion

Chainlink’s decline stems from a combination of risk-off movements across the sector and local technical breakdowns. However, the accumulation of 1.6 million LINK by whales since July 15 suggests that institutional investors are attempting to strengthen their positions during this period of weakness. Will Bitcoin's stability above $64,000 enable altcoins like LINK to recover their lost value, or is a deeper correction inevitable?