Chainlink flashed a hopeful signal this week as veteran trader Michaël van de Poppe pointed to what he sees as the start of a structural change in the token’s chart. “LINK is an interesting one, based on TA and on FA. The technology is phenomenal. The chart starts to look better. Creating the first higher low since the entire bear market. If this holds and breaks upwards, I would expect a new higher high to be created on the chart for Chainlink,” he wrote, a concise endorsement that sent traders back to the charts.
Market data show Chainlink changing hands around $13.70 on Friday, leaving the token up modestly from its recent lows but still far from the all-time highs traders remember. Major price aggregators report a market cap just under $10 billion and daily volumes in the low hundreds of millions, the kind of liquidity that can sustain meaningful moves if momentum returns.
Technically, van de Poppe’s point rests on a simple but powerful idea: higher lows are the first hint that a downtrend is losing its grip. The LINK/BTC weekly shows a flattened base and a shallow uptick off a prior low, a setup that, if confirmed by a meaningful reclaim of the previous swing top, would convert a long-running bearish sequence into the very earliest stages of a recovery. TradingView market chatter has already begun framing the pair in similar terms, noting that a break above near-term resistance would swing momentum in the bulls’ favor.
Chainlink Momentum Improves
On-chain and fundamental factors add color to the technical story. Chainlink’s oracle network remains widely used across DeFi and enterprise integrations, and the protocol continues to tout institutional tie-ups and data-stream products that feed markets and apps, a narrative that many investors say justifies patience through volatile price action. These partnerships, while not a guarantee of higher prices, help explain why some analysts are willing to bet on a structural turnaround.
Market strategists are starting to pencil in modest upside if momentum confirms. A handful of short-term forecasts and exchange commentary put a near-term target in the mid-teens, roughly $15–$16, contingent on a decisive move above immediate resistance and supporting indicator signals. That’s precisely the scenario van de Poppe described: a hold at the higher low followed by a breakout that ushers in a higher high.
Of course, the flip side remains real. Crypto markets are famously binary: a failed breakout can quickly morph into a renewed flush, and macro drivers, Bitcoin strength, regulatory news, and liquidity shifts, all matter. For now, however, the picture is refreshingly simple for traders: LINK has formed a base, the sentiment is improving among technical analysts, and a clean upside break would change the story from recovery hopes to confirmed rotation. Whether the market gives Chainlink that confirmation in the coming days is the question everyone watching van de Poppe’s feed is trying to answer.
