LINK Price Climbs Above $16 Again – What’s Behind The Latest Surge?

The LINK price seems to be intensifying its bullish momentum again after cooling off over the past few weeks. Despite the recent sluggishness in Chainlink’s price action, the cryptocurrency has maintained most of its profit and managed to stay above the $14 level in the past weeks.

Interestingly, the LINK price recently made its way above the $16 mark for the second time in less than a month. But here is the question – what is driving the latest surge?

On-Chain Data Reveals Catalyst For Chainlink’s Jump To $16

The latest on-chain revelation from Santiment has offered insight into the catalyst behind LINK’s price jump to $16. According to data from the crypto analytics firm, Chainlink’s richest wallets have made a substantial amount of token purchases in the past few days.

In a December 2 post on X, Santiment revealed that LINK whales bought about 3.9 million tokens (worth more than $62 million) in the past three days. This data point highlights an increase in the total amount of tokens held by the 200 largest Chainlink addresses.

🔗🐳 #Chainlink is moving ahead of the #altcoin field once again, aided by the top whales continuing to accumulate. The 200 largest wallets have added just over $50M $LINK in ~5 weeks. In 5 months, its market cap is +143% overall, and +93% vs. #Bitcoin. https://t.co/HUjTnCY5c9 pic.twitter.com/oAPl9SQaJ5

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) December 2, 2023

This recent market activity underscores the current accumulation trend amongst Chainlink whales. According to data provided by Santiment, the top 200 wallets have loaded up more than $50 million worth of LINK tokens in approximately five weeks.

Furthermore, the on-chain analytics firm also revealed that the 200 largest Chainlink addresses currently hold a combined 746.57 million tokens (equivalent to a massive $11.84 billion). This figure represents nearly 75% of LINK’s total supply.

This accumulation trend is a positive sign for LINK and its price trajectory, as it suggests that large investors are keeping their faith in the asset and banking on the token’s price growth.

Is LINK Outperforming Bitcoin?

As of this writing, the LINK token is valued at $16.11, reflecting a nearly 2% price increase in the last 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, the cryptocurrency has jumped by more than 7.5% in the past week.

With its market capitalization rising by more than 143% in the last five months, Chainlink’s performance over the past few months is even more remarkable. Moreover, the altcoin has held its own against the premier cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.

Based on data provided by Santiment, LINK has outperformed the market leader by over 93% – in terms of market cap – in the past five months. This is especially impressive considering that Bitcoin has also been on a positive run, recently breaking above $39,000 for the first time in over a year.

Nevertheless, Bitcoin maintains its position as the top cryptocurrency with a market cap of $772 billion. Comparatively, LINK ranks as the 12th-largest asset with a $9 billion market capitalization.