Chainlink Technical Analysis: LINK on the cusp of a remarkable breakout to $17

• Chainlink is hovering below triangle resistance; a getaway could shoot it to the resistance at $17.
• On-chain data analysis shows that investors are bullish on LINK, but a couple of challenging resistances are highlighted.

Chainlink appears to be building a bullish trend in the short timeframe. Significant progress has been made since the drop below $10 in the first week of July. However, it is worth mentioning that the selling pressure at $13 continues to give bulls a hard time. Over the past few days, the price has been consolidating within the Bollinger Bands in the hourly range. As the Bollinger Bands squeeze, LINK draws closer to a period of high volatility.

Meanwhile, the LINK/USD is trading at $12.30 and dealing with acute resistance at the confluence formed by the 50 Simple Moving Average (SMA) and the Bollinger Bands middle curve. A break above this zone could lead to extended price action, in turn, setting Chainlink up for a majestic price rally.

LINK/USD 1-hour chart

Chainlink setting the pace for Price Reference Data in DeFi

Chainlink has established itself as the go-to platform for Price Reference Data. The majority of DeFi projects rely on Chainlink’s live price feed to integrate transparency and security to minting and trading processes. According to an announcement made by Organix on Medium, Chainlink Price Oracle data will be integrated to support a synthetic asset DeFi on the EOS blockchain.

Chainlink will provide accurate price data for the synthetic assets created and traded on Organix, including cryptocurrencies, indexes, and more, as well as provide a price feed for Organix’s native token OGX.

Chainlink’s developing ascending channel eyes $17

According to the forming ascending triangle, the 4-hour LINK/USD chart is starting to print a potentially bullish picture. At the time of writing, LINK is trading at $12.36 after turning the 50 Simple Moving Average into support. The momentum is expected to continue building, leading to a breakout above the x-axis. Gains above the triangle resistance are likely to make a great approach at $17. The bullish scenario is supported by the Relative Strength Index (RSI) as it crosses above the midline (50).

LINK/USD 4-hour chart

Additional resistance is expected at $15, a level that functioned as support in the last week of August. Flipping this zone into support could cement the bulls’ presence in the market, pulling LINK/USD well above $17.

On the flip side, the death cross pattern formed when the 50 SMA crossed below the 100 SMA hints that selling pressure is still present. In other words, if the price drops below the ascending trendline, the breakdown could be painful, mostly $9 being in the sight glass.

Chainlink fundamental analysis

IntoTheBlock's In/Out of the Money Around Price shows significant selling pressure ahead of Chainlink. Roughly 11,500 addresses had previously purchased nearly 48 million LINK between $12.40 and $13.50. Such a massive supply barrier could prevent the decentralized oracles token from achieving its upside potential. Holders within this price range will likely try to break even in their long positions in the event of a bullish impulse. 

Given the importance of this sell wall, Chainlink must first slice through this hurdle so that it can advance further and reach the target of $17, presented by the ascending triangle formation.

On the downside, support at $12.06 - $12.42 is not strong enough to keep the price afloat. Therefore, Chainlink's probability of diving below the trendline is high, extending the bearish action to $9.00.

As far as whales are concerned, Santiment shows that top non-exchange holders of LINK are increasing their holdings. For instance, even as the price dipped on September 5, the amount held by these addresses shot up to 642.72 million. By September 10, the amount had increased to 644.26 million. This data shows that top investors are confident that Chainlink will resume the uptrend.

LINK non-exchange holder distribution 

From a technical perspective, LINK seems poised to make rise towards $17. However, such a breakout may be invalidated by the resistance highlighted by IntoTheBlock’s IOMAP model that sits between $12.40 and $13.50. Given the ambiguity that this cryptocurrency presents, it would be prudent to wait for confirmation before jumping in a long trade.