The price of Chainlink (LINK) has once again led the market. While most altcoins are struggling to maintain profits, LINK's price has increased by more than 5% in the past 24 hours and over 140% over the past year.
The application of Oracle networks in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector helps Chainlink maintain its relevance, but the recent price surge is not merely organic; it is supported by strong buying from large wallets. However, a subtle indicator may be suggesting a pause.
Whale activity explains the Chainlink price surge.
In the past seven days, whale wallets have added more than 1.1 million LINK to their portfolios. At the current price of 24.80 USD, this equates to about 27.2 million USD in capital inflow. This type of capital rarely occurs randomly; it often reflects solid confidence. This is clearly evident through Chainlink's price action.
Smart wallets, which often track market entry points well, have also increased their holdings by 12.6% in the past week.
Meanwhile, the top 100 LINK addresses have continued the accumulation process, albeit at a light level. The fact that all three segments are moving in sync is a clear reason why LINK's price has diverged from the overall market weakness.
Missing link? Exchange reserves tell a different story.
Despite strong support from whales, one indicator suggests that the price of Chainlink may cool off in the short term: exchange reserves.
On August 16, LINK balances on exchanges dropped to a monthly low of 162.59 million LINK, just as the price surge began to accelerate. This is a positive sign, indicating that fewer LINK tokens are being held on exchanges, thus the selling pressure is likely low.
However, this has changed at the current moment.
As of today, reserves have risen to 162.90 million LINK, equivalent to an increase of more than 300,000 LINK, about 7.4 million USD at the current price. This indicates that some traders are bringing LINK back to exchanges, possibly to prepare to take profits.
Moreover, in the past 24 hours, the balances of whale wallets have slightly decreased, indicating that some whales are no longer continuing to buy. The top 100 LINK addresses have also shown slight distribution; not large, but enough to support the hypothesis that profit-taking may be imminent.
It is worth noting that smart wallets continue to accumulate, suggesting confidence in the price in the medium term.
Therefore, while overall accumulation explains the recent gains, the change in reserves and wallet behavior is the missing factor that could disrupt the price surge and lead to a rapid consolidation.
The price of Chainlink is stuck between two important levels.
Currently, the price of Chainlink is trading around 24.80 USD, stuck between important zones. The nearest resistance is at 25.70 USD, and a breakout above this level could push LINK towards 28.20 USD and even 30.10 USD, according to Fibonacci projections.
However, there are also important zones below.
If short-term selling pressure increases, the first two support levels will be 24.70 USD and 23.40 USD, followed by 21.40 USD. These price levels may hold if exchange reserves stabilize or start to decline again.
So far, the bullish scenario remains intact, as long as the accumulation of smart wallets continues and whales return to buy. But if reserves continue to increase, the price of LINK may cool off before testing new highs again. A drop below 21.40 USD could weaken the current bullish trend and turn Chainlink's price structure bearish in the short term.
