Chainlink (LINK) has seen a sharp rise of over 21% in the past 24 hours. Here’s what data suggests may be underlying this rally.
Chainlink surprised the crypto market with a breakout last day
While most cryptocurrency sectors have seen flat or small green returns over the past 24 hours, Chainlink has shown a disconnect as it has seen sharp bullish momentum in this window.
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Here’s a chart showing what LINK’s recent performance has looked like:
With this sudden burst, Chainlink has reached the $16.7 mark for the first time since the crash in the first half of April. Although the asset has now survived much of this decline, it has still not made a full recovery.
However, should LINK’s bullish momentum continue, it may not be long before the cryptocurrency can regain the $17.8 level it was trading at just before the crash.
As for Chainlink’s position in the broader market, the table below shows that, based on market capitalization, it is currently the 15th largest coin.
LINK is now not far from Polkadot (DOT), so it is possible that if the price increase continues, the coin will dethrone DOT and take over the 14th spot on the list.
What could be the reason for Chainlink’s sudden disconnect from the rest of the market? Data from on-chain analytics company Santiment may provide some hints.
The total number of LINK whales is now at its highest level in six months
As Santiment notes in a after on
This limit equates to approximately $1.67 million at the current LINK exchange rate. Investors with such large interests are popularly called whales.
Whales can be influential entities in the market because they can move a large amount of volume in a short period of time. As such, their behavior may be worth monitoring.
The chart shows that Chainlink’s total number of whale addresses has reached 564 after the latest increase, which is the highest number since October last year. This increase in the number of whales on the network may partly account for the increase LINK has just seen.
In the same graph, the analytics company also included the data for another indicator: social dominance. This metric tells us about the share of cryptocurrency-related discussions on social media that LINK currently occupies.
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This indicator has skyrocketed alongside this rally, implying that interest in the coin has increased. Historically, such an increase in attention has been a bearish sign for the asset, so it remains to be seen whether these high values will be maintained. “If social dominance calms down and FOMO doesn’t take over, bullish conditions lie ahead,” Santiment notes.
Featured image from iStock.com, CoinMarketCap.com, Santiment.net, chart from TradingView.com