Chainlink Unlocks $269M LINK Tokens, Price Rises 6%
1min read On 15 March, Chainlink unlocked 19 million LINK tokens, valued at approximately $269 million, as part of its quarterly schedule. According to blockchain analytics platform, 14.875 million LINK tokens, worth $212.9 million, were sent to Binance, while 4.125 million LINK tokens, worth $56.2 million, were transferred to a multi-sig wallet. Despite this significant unlock, LINK's price remained relatively stable, increasing by about 6% following Bitcoin's rebound to $85,000. This stability raises the question of whether LINK can maintain its value without experiencing a significant dump.
Historically, LINK's price has shown mixed reactions to unlock events. Apart from last September's unlock, LINK had a red daily session close for most of the events. However, it typically bounced back after one or two days, marking a local bottom unless Bitcoin dropped lower. Whether this trend will repeat itself for the latest unlock event remains to be seen.
Prior to the unlock, the largest whale wallets holding 10 million to 100 million LINK tokens offloaded approximately 13 million tokens. At the time of the unlock, this cohort held 467.63 million LINK tokens. In contrast, wallets holding 1 million to 10 million LINK tokens absorbed some of the offloading, holding about half of the 467.63 million LINK tokens held by the large whales.
On the trading side, one large player went long on LINK with a $7.1 million position size, hours before the unlock on Hyperliquid. However, this position was sold at a loss after the unlock. The "50x ETH" whale dumped 1.34 million LINK tokens on-chain for $18.36 million at approximately $13.7, losing $512,000 (-2.7%).
Evaluating LINK’s selling pressure on centralized exchanges (CEXes) to gauge the potential direction for LINK, it was observed that although sell pressure was somewhat flat at the time, offloading increased over the past two days. The exchange reserves jumped from 30.8 million tokens to 31 million tokens, indicating a slight uptick in selling pressure before the unlock. Additionally, exchange reserves on derivatives exchanges also spiked, hinting at high volatility and possible liquidation risks if excessive leverage is involved.
From a technical perspective, LINK bounced from its range-lows in the descending channel. If the rebound extends, the mid-range of $16-$17 could be tapped. However, sustained selling pressure could drag the altcoin to November U.S election levels of $10. The market's reaction to the unlock will be closely watched to determine if LINK can maintain its value or if it will experience a significant correction.
