Chainlink Rally Brings Profit-Taking, While CCIP 2.0 Targets Institutional Money

Chainlink has hit a new 2026 high after a strong recovery in the past month or so. The 12th-largest crypto asset by market cap staged a fresh 12% rally on Tuesday and jumped past $15.

But some smaller LINK holders appear to be selling.

Signs Of Profit Taking

Santiment revealed that the number of non-empty wallets has fallen to 912,020, which suggests some smaller holders may be taking profits as the token rallies. That does not necessarily mean investors are turning bearish on LINK. Some smaller traders could simply be selling after sitting through the recovery, while other holders continue to add to their positions. The holder count is still close to its highest levels this year.

There is also more happening around Chainlink beyond the price move. For instance, CCIP 2.0 went live this week, making the upgraded cross-chain infrastructure available to institutions and digital asset issuers. The update focuses on security, compliance, and faster cross-chain transactions as financial firms move more assets onchain. Chainlink said CCIP has secured more than $84 billion in cross-chain token value, and over $15 billion has migrated to the network in the past four months.

The platform is being integrated by firms including BitGo, Fidelity International, Deutsche Börse’s Crypto Finance, and SBI Digital Markets. LINK is also seeing more use in traditional finance. Coinbase has selected Chainlink for oracle infrastructure for its tokenized stocks, while Wyoming is using the network for its FRNT stablecoin.

Analysts Eye Higher Levels

Despite modest profit-taking, LINK remains almost 35% up over the past month. Michaël van de Poppe expects older cryptocurrencies such as LINK to perform better in the current market cycle than they did during the previous one, as he highlighted the continued development and the growth of its ecosystem as important factors.

Whale Factor has pointed to $17.30, $20, $23, and $28 as the next key levels for LINK based on Fibonacci extensions. The $20 mark is the next major level to watch, and a move above it could potentially bring the higher targets into focus.

Crypto analyst ChartNerd shared an even bolder price outlook for LINK, predicting that the token could eventually reach $100.