Ethereum Plunge As Stakers Head for the Exit, But Chainlinks Holds Strong in Anticipation of Major Pump

The Ethereum price has started this new week with a major dip, falling back to the $4,200 range. The retracement comes as $ETH holders in line to unstake their tokens surged to a new high. 

While $ETH has been faced with strong selling pressure, Chainlink whales have been buying $LINK tokens. The Chainlink price has also held strong, defending its $24 support level, with analysts predicting a major price pump could be around the corner.

Ethereum Faces Selling Pressure With Billions in Line To Be Unstaked

The Ethereum price has suffered a massive drop in price following its rally to $4,800. The price of Ethereum has dropped back to the $4,260 range, with losses of more than 6% in the last 24 hours.

While the broader crypto market is in the red today, Ethereum’s decline is remarkable because it comes at a time when stakers are lining up at the exit. The Ethereum blockchain validator exit queue on Monday, August 18, reached 861,211 ETH – a new high, according to Validatorqueue.Com.

At current prices, over $3.67 billion in $ETH is waiting to be unstaked. Even before the unstaking process, there is mounting selling pressure on Ethereum. Bulls need to maintain a hold on the support levels at $4,200 and $4,000, so the Ethereum price does not collapse any further.

However, Mister Crypto has highlighted a significant trend. According to the analyst, who shared an infographic from CryptoQuant, retail traders have been selling while whales have been buying. As whale buying activity is always associated with price growth, it might be possible to observe the Ethereum price recovery.

Chainlink (LINK) Holds Strong As Whales Go on Buying Spree

Despite the bearish movement in the cryptocurrency market, the price of Chainlink has remained stable. Per CMC data, $LINK is up 1.3% today and more than 15.5% on the weekly timeframe. 

According to data pulled from Nansen, Chainlink whale wallets have added over 1.1 million $LINK tokens in the last seven days, as Chainlink has continued to expand its utility. This represents approximately $27.2 million in inflows at the current $LINK price of $24.80.

The data also shows that smart money wallets, which usually track market entries well, have also increased their holdings by 12.6% over the last seven days. The top 100 LINK addresses have also resumed accumulation, albeit very slightly. These three segments all buying Chainlink tokens point to a potentially imminent rally for LINK.

The Chainlink price continues to trade strong in the $24.3 and $25.7 range, but needs to stay above the $21.40 range to maintain its current bullish setup. Crypto analysts on X, XMaximist and Crypto Academic, have opined that Chainlink is on the verge of breaking a multi-year resistance. 

When this happens, XMaximist believes that the price of Chainlink could surge to $200, almost 4x its current ATH of $52.70. However, for this to happen, Chainlink must first clear the resistance of the descending trendline, which sits between $27 and $30.