Chainlink stuck at $9 – But LINK whale’s $14.8 mln move raises questions

Chainlink [LINK] has traded within a thin range of $8.5 and $9.9, with $9.9 as upper resistance over the past week. In fact, as of this writing, LINK traded at $9.2 after rising slightly by 1.23% on the daily charts.

However, the altcoin’s trading volume plunged 32% to $649 million, reflecting reduced market participation. Amid this market slowdown, whales have taken the opportunity to reposition themselves, awaiting the next move.

Chainlink whale moves 1.62 million LINK worth $14.8 million

With LINK stuck around $9.2, whales have placed a significant amount of orders around this price level. Spot Average Order Size data from CryptoQuant showed big whale orders of around $9.2 for five out of the past seven days.

Source: CryptoQuant

The increased pile-up around here suggested whale participation, either selling or buying LINK. Lookonchain observed one such whale activity.

According to the on-chain monitor, a whale created 10 new wallets and withdrew 1.62 million LINK, worth $14.8 million. The whale deposited these tokens into Flowdesk-related deposit addresses.

However, the monitor reported that these tokens were not recently bought, but the whale was likely reorganizing wallets. Typically, whale reorganization has a negative impact, since it’s neither a selling nor a buying event.

Besides this whale, other large entities have been recently accumulating, especially when looking at the Exchange Supply Ratio. The ESR has declined for two consecutive months, dropping to January lows, and stood at 0.127 at press time.

Source: CryptoQuant

Usually, a low ESR suggests that most tokens have flowed outside the exchanges, while inflows have declined. Traditionally, such market setups have reduced supply, thereby increasing scarcity, a prelude to higher prices.

Breakout in sight, but risk remains

Chainlink showed moderate bullish momentum as the altcoin hovered around $9. The Bulls v. Bears indicator showed that buyers have greater determination to defend higher highs than sellers.

As a result, the altcoin’s Stochastic RSI jumped from 26 to 44 over the past two days, reflecting strong buyer momentum in the market. Often, such market conditions have preceded significant gains, especially when sustained.

Source: Tradingview

Therefore, if demand holds while whales stay away from sell-side activity, LINK is likely to finally break out, reclaim $9.9, and flip $10. To achieve this bullish move, bulls need to push the Stoch RSI above 50.

However, sellers, especially retail ones, have remained active, which has held Stochastic RSI back. At the same time, Exchange Netflow also turned positive, rising to 101k, validating this seller’s presence.

Source: Cryptoquant

Thus, if sellers remain active, we could see extended sideways movement, with $8.5 as support and $9.9 as immediate resistance.

Final Summary

• A Chainlink whale created 10 new wallets and withdrew 1.62 million LINK, worth $14.8 million.
• _LINK remained stuck within a tight range, trading between $8.5 and $9.2. _