Chainlink (LINK) Whales Return to the Market, Staring Down $18-$24 Breakout

At the time of writing, LINK was trading at $13.46 while maintaining position above its essential support zone during market fluctuations.

At the time of writing, LINK was trading at $13.46 while remaining above its crucial support zone despite market movements.

Meanwhile, LINK showed strong signs of a price breakout towards $18-$24 due to a recent increase in whale activity.

The “50x ETH” whale who had a $4 Million loss on Hyperliquid returned with a large investment in Chainlink (LINK).

According to Spot On Chain, the trader deposited $2.875 Million USDC funds into Hyperliquid to open a LINK long position with 10x leverage.

This isn’t just any trader, as they've managed to generate $16.4 Million since February 7 by trading Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), Hype (HYPE), and Yield Guild Games (YGG) through their long and short positions.

Liquidation Map Shows High Stakes at $14.33

Looking at the LINK Exchange Liquidation Map on Coinglass, an earlier price level at $14.33 displayed a major cluster of liquidations.

The token’s upward price movement will activate short position liquidations, which might push prices into further growth.

On the other hand, a price decrease can activate long liquidations, forcing traders to close their positions, thus causing the market value to decrease.

A strong liquidation wall exists between $14.21 and $14.39, which indicates short sellers of LINK will experience losses if market momentum moves upward.

The upcoming challenge is to determine if buying pressure will manage to pierce this resistance area.

Technical Analysis: Critical Support Holding Strong

Furthermore, crypto analyst Ali Charts highlighted that LINK is holding an important support point.

The weekly timeframe shows it is testing the lower edge of an upward-trending channel, which usually acts as a momentum-building factor.

The token’s ability to maintain support at its current levels would set the stage for a powerful price increase to $24, which represents a 70% rise from the present market price.

This aligns with the analysis by CryptoBull_360, which shows LINK transforming a significant resistance zone into a support area.

The analysis predicts that it could experience a 27-30% price increase as trading volume is rising and momentum remains positive. The setup suggests that the cryptocurrency will surpass $18 in the near term.

Fundamental Catalyst: SWIFT’s Crypto Shift in 2025

While traders are concentrating on short-term price changes, Chainlink’s long-term value could increase due to SWIFT’s upcoming update of its messaging standards specifically for crypto, including LINK, beginning in November 2025.

For those unfamiliar, SWIFT is the primary system that enables worldwide banking communication while processing transactions worth trillions of dollars daily.

The system changes at SWIFT point toward increasing institutional adoption of crypto assets.

And LINK stands to gain direct advantages from this shift because it serves as the backbone for numerous blockchain interoperability solutions.

What’s Next for LINK?

LINK is at a decisive stage as whale activity has increased, technical indicators show a potential breakout, and extended adoption possibilities are emerging.

The token could surge past $18 and beyond if it manages to stay above the $14.50-$15 support levels.

A substantial rebound after the current price decrease depends on sellers losing control of the market, leading to a retest of $12-$13 before any recovery occurs.