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Chainlink price is capped inside a narrowing bearish structure despite signs of accumulation from large holders.
- $LINK trades near $12.8 after double-digit weekly losses and falling volume
- Whale wallets added over $263M in $LINK since November while exchange balances hit yearly lows
- Technical structure stays bearish unless price reclaims key resistance levels
As of this writing, $LINK was trading at about $12.78, showing a slight daily gain of 0.7%. The token has dropped 9.2% over the past month and 10% over the last week as sellers continue to protect overhead resistance.
Daily Chainlink ($LINK) trading volume fell to $541 million, down 21% from the previous day, pointing to softer participation during the consolidation phase. Derivatives data points to the same hesitation. CoinGlass data shows derivatives volume slipping 19% to $1.02 billion, while open interest rose 2.7% to $544 million.
This suggests traders are holding positions rather than aggressively adding new leverage, a sign of caution as price compresses.
Whale activity and fund flows offer support
While price action has struggled, on-chain data tells a different story. According to a Dec. 16 X post from Santiment, the top 100 Chainlink wallets have added 20.46 million $LINK since early November, worth about $263 million at current prices.
At the same time, $LINK balances on exchanges have fallen to their lowest level this year, pointing to continued withdrawals into self-custody.
🐳 ChainLink's top 100 largest wallets have been accumulating since the start of November, collectively adding 20.46M $LINK (~$263M) back to their wallets.
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) December 16, 2025
👀 Watch the accumulation, & view the individual wallets that make up this group of whales here. 👇https://t.co/YGqTlVizTm pic.twitter.com/P8A7j1vYTj
Institutional flows have also stayed positive. Grayscale’s $LINK exchange-traded fund, launched on Dec. 2, has recorded only inflows so far, reaching $56 million in cumulative net inflows. On Dec. 16, the fund added another $1.38 million, even as Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs posted large daily outflows exceeding $500 million.
Recent network developments have added to that longer-term confidence. In mid-December, Coinbase selected Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol as the exclusive bridge for expanding wrapped assets like cbBTC and cbETH across multiple chains.
Around the same time, tokenized asset issuer Backed rolled out its CCIP-powered xBridge, allowing regulated tokenized equities to move across networks.
Chainlink price technical analysis
On the daily chart, $LINK continues to trade inside a tightening bearish structure. Price keeps making slightly lower peaks while repeatedly holding the same support around $12.60–$12.70. This tightening range usually means a strong move may be coming.
For now, every bounce has run into resistance, with all the key moving averages sitting above the price.
Other momentum signals show little follow-through, and the relative strength index is close to 50, keeping $LINK at neutral levels. During this consolidation, volume has continued to decrease, suggesting minimal participation from both buyers and sellers.
Momentum may move toward the $14.50 region if buyers are able to raise the price above $13.50 and maintain it there. That would likely require stronger participation and follow-through. On the downside, a break below $12.60 would tilt the structure lower again, opening the door to a move toward the high-$11 range.