Chainlink remains on standby as daily candles continue to show indecision, keeping traders on edge. The next significant move for LINK largely depends on Bitcoin’s momentum, with bulls and bears waiting for a clear signal before committing. Until then, the market is in a holding pattern, building tension for the breakout or breakdown.

Traders Await Clear Direction For Chainlink

According to an update from CryptoWzrd, the daily candles for both Chainlink and LINKBTC continue to print indecisive price action, reflecting a lack of strong conviction from either side of the market. Despite recent movements, neither buyers nor sellers have been able to establish a clear directional edge, keeping the broader outlook neutral for now.

To gain a reliable directional bias and unlock higher-probability trade opportunities, healthier and more decisive daily candles are required, as price could continue to chop within its current range. Bitcoin is expected to remain the primary driver of the next significant move. In particular, LINKBTC needs to print another bullish daily candle in the coming week to maintain any constructive momentum. 

Failure to do so could shift the balance back in favor of the bears and increase downside pressure. A continuation of weakness would likely result in a break of the daily lower-high trendline, followed by a loss of the critical $12 support level. 

On the bullish side, if Bitcoin provides the necessary support, LINK could attempt a recovery rally toward the $16 resistance zone. Until a clearer higher-timeframe structure emerges, the trading focus remains tactical. Attention will be placed on the lower-timeframe charts, particularly over the weekend, to capitalize on quick, short-term opportunities while avoiding unnecessary exposure to indecisive daily conditions.

Intraday Chart Shows Tight Range, Market Lacks Clear Direction

The analyst concluded that the intraday chart remains choppy, with price action tightly compressed within a narrow range. Such conditions point to persistent market indecision, in which neither bulls nor bears have shown sufficient conviction to drive a sustained move in either direction. As a result, trade setups lack clarity and carry elevated risk.

From a tactical perspective, a retest of the $13 resistance level, followed by clear signs of rejection or fading momentum, could open the door to a short opportunity. However, if price holds above $13 with strong acceptance, that would place the market in more constructive territory and tilt the bias back in favor of the bulls.

Until one of these scenarios plays out decisively, the analyst emphasized the importance of waiting. A more mature and well-defined chart structure is needed before engaging in the next trade, ensuring better confirmation, cleaner entries, and improved risk-to-reward conditions.

Chainlink’s native token, LINK, continues to trade within a clearly defined price channel, reflecting a period of consolidation as the broader crypto market is yet to establish a clear market direction. Meanwhile, renowned analyst Ali Martinez provides some key insights on the LINK market, highlighting the potential price targets for the next breakout.

Chainlink In Compression Phase Between $12-$15 — What Next? 

In a recent X post, Martinez shares an analysis of the LINK 12-hour chart, which shows the altcoin has been range-bound between key support at $11.89 and resistance near $14.64, a structure that has remained intact over multiple trading sessions stretching back to 2025. This price behavior implies that neither bulls nor bears have been able to assert sustained control as each attempt to push higher has been capped near the upper boundary of the channel, while pullbacks have consistently found buyers around the $11.89 support zone. 

From a technical standpoint, the channel highlights a phase of consolidation following earlier volatility. Therefore, this structure may be laying the groundwork for a more decisive move once the price escapes the current boundaries. 

The $14.64 resistance level remains the key hurdle for bullish continuation. A confirmed breakout above this zone, ideally supported by rising volume, could reignite upside momentum with potential targets set at $17.00. On the downside, a loss of the $11.89 support could change the technical outlook, exposing LINK to deeper retracements, with potential around $10.00. For now, however, this support has held firm, reinforcing the validity of the channel and keeping bearish momentum in check.

LINK Market Overview

At press time, LINK trades at $12.21, reflecting a major loss of 10.95% in the last seven days amid a general market downturn. However, the monthly loss of just 1.09% indicates that downside momentum remains relatively contained, suggesting that recent selling pressure may be corrective rather than structural and that many new market entrants could soon return to profit if prices stabilize.

In other news, Chainlink has completed the acquisition of Atlas, the order flow auction protocol developed by FastLane. According to the blockchain team, this move strengthens Chainlink’s value capture stack by expanding the reach of Chainlink SVR into the new DeFi ecosystem, thereby helping improve MEV recapture.  With a market cap of $8.65 billion, Chainlink is ranked as the 13th largest digital asset in the world.

On-chain data shows the largest of Chainlink whales have been accumulating recently even as the cryptocurrency’s price has slipped below $13.00.

Top 100 Chainlink Whales Have Been Expanding Their Supply

In a new post on X, on-chain analytics firm Santiment has talked about the latest trend in the holdings of the 100 largest addresses present on the Chainlink network.

This category of holders naturally includes the large whales, investors who carry sums significant enough to have some influence on the blockchain. As such, their combined supply can be worth keeping an eye on.

Below is the chart shared by Santiment that shows the trend in the supply of the 100 largest Chainlink addresses over the last few months.

As displayed in the graph, the Chainlink supply held by the top 100 addresses went up in November as the cryptocurrency’s price plummeted, a possible sign that big-money investors were loading up.

These whales shed some of their holdings in December and the first week of January, but recently, they have showed signs of renewed accumulation as LINK’s price has plunged below the $13.00 level. Compared to the start of November, the cohort’s holdings are up 16.1 million tokens.

“As retail sells off due to impatience & FUD, it’s common to see smart money gather up more $LINK to prepare for (or cause) the next pump,” explained the analytics firm. It now remains to be seen whether this accumulation will have any effect on the cryptocurrency.

Chainlink isn’t the only asset that has seen movements from large investors recently. As Santiment has highlighted in another X post, Bitcoin sharks and whales have participated in net buying over the last nine days.

In the context of BTC, sharks and whales are defined as investors holding between 10 to 10,000 tokens. Below is a chart that shows how the supply of these investors has changed since late July.

As is visible in the graph, the Bitcoin sharks and whales have increased their combined supply by 36,322 BTC in the last nine days, equivalent to an increase of 0.27%. Interestingly, the large investors have held on despite the fact that the asset’s price has gone through a retrace over the past few days.

However, the same hasn’t been true for the opposite end of the market, the retail entities. These investors, corresponding to addresses holding less than 0.01 BTC, have shed 132 BTC (0.28%) in the same window.

LINK Price

At the time of writing, Chainlink is floating around $12.33, down more than 10% in the last seven days.