Chainlink is gaining momentum as whale wallets quietly expand their holdings, adding more than 0.5% of the token’s supply in just over a week.
Summary
- LINK up 13% in 24h, trading near $18.89 with strong volume growth.
- Whales added 0.67% of supply in August, backed by major network upgrades.
- Technicals favor bulls, with $20+ in sight if resistance breaks.
Chainlink (LINK) was trading at $18.89 at press time, up 13% in the past 24 hours, extending its seven-day gain to 12% and its 30-day rise to 36%. The token has traded between $15.48 and $19.16 over the past week, with momentum supported by surging market activity.
LINK’s spot trading volume increased by 300% to $1.37 billion in the last 24 hours. According to Coinglass data, derivatives activity also increased, with open interest rising 24.7% and futures volume increasing 252% to $2.63 billion.
Rising open interest alongside higher trading volumes often suggests that traders are positioning for larger price swings, rather than simply closing out existing positions.
Chainlink whale accumulation and recent catalysts
Santiment’s on-chain data reveals a significant increase in holdings among major LINK investors. Wallets holding between 100,000 and 1 million LINK grew by 4.2% in August, accumulating an additional 0.67% of the total supply so far this month. This buying coincides with several major network developments.
🔗🐳 Chainlink whale & shark wallets are growing in number, as well as their collective holdings. As $LINK has quickly jumped back above $18.40, we've seen a +4.2% in 100K-1M LINK wallets, and 0.67% more of the supply accumulated in August alone. https://t.co/FIZ57wRcO0 pic.twitter.com/320CmJrh0z
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) August 7, 2025
With the launch of Data Streams for U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds on Aug. 4, Chainlink made it possible for tokenized real-world asset markets to access real-time, low-latency data. The initiative has already attracted adoption from protocols like GMX (GMX) and Kamino Finance.
On Aug. 7, the team unveiled the Chainlink Reserve, an on-chain LINK reserve designed to support long-term growth and incentivize node operators. That same day, Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol was used in Brazil’s Drex CBDC pilot to connect with foreign central banks in a trade finance trial alongside Banco Inter, Microsoft, and 7COMm.
Chainlink technical analysis
Technical indicators show a generally positive outlook. From the 10-day to the 200-day period, all of the major moving averages are in buy territory, indicating solid underlying trend support. The relative strength index is at 61, suggesting the asset may still have room to grow before reaching overbought conditions.
Both the Awesome Oscillator and Momentum indicate that buying pressure is still present. In a bullish scenario, the next resistance is likely to form in the $20.50–$21 range, which could be reached by sustained whale accumulation and a break above $19.16.
Failure to maintain above the mid-Bollinger Band around $18 may result in a retest of the support zone between $17.20 and $17.50, particularly if traders in derivatives unwind leveraged long positions.