LINK price struggles below moving averages as derivatives unwind

Selling pressure persisted even as activity jumped. Spot trading volume rose to about $487 million, up roughly 213% day over day, while derivatives data showed futures volume climbing above $843 million even as open interest slipped about 2% to roughly $530 million, a mix commonly interpreted as traders closing or rotating positions rather than adding fresh directional exposure.

Over the past week, LINK was down about 7.8% and traded in a roughly $11.42 to $12.95 range, reflecting a corrective tone while the token struggled to regain overhead levels that previously acted as support.

Despite the soft tape, Chainlink’s fundamentals have continued to expand across crypto and traditional finance use cases. The network is described as controlling more than 70% of the decentralized oracle market, with its price feeds used across DeFi, cross-chain systems, real-world assets and stablecoins.

Chainlink’s total value secured by its oracles was cited as above $47 billion as of mid-January 2026, and the network has pushed further into tokenization-related infrastructure by rolling out 24/5 U.S. equities data streams intended to provide sub-second pricing for major stocks and ETFs for onchain use cases.

The same update pointed to expanding enterprise and market-infrastructure collaborations, naming organizations including Swift, DTCC, UBS, J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, Euroclear, Deutsche Börse, FTSE Russell, and S&P Global. It also referenced recent milestones such as a Base-to-Solana bridge using CCIP, tokenized equities activity tied to Ondo, and real-time CBDC settlement activity involving Brazil and Hong Kong.

Later sentiment metrics also painted a mixed picture. Santiment data cited in the report put LINK’s 30-day MVRV at -9.5%, a level often associated with holders sitting on unrealized losses, which can reduce near-term sell pressure but does not by itself reverse a downtrend.

Technically, immediate focus remains the $11.80–$12.00 zone, which has acted as short-term demand in recent weeks. A sustained break below that range would leave LINK looking for deeper support, while a recovery would still need to reclaim the $13.00–$13.50 area and hold above key moving averages to improve the near-term setup.