Key Levels: $11–$12 Support Band, $8 Floor, and $18 Upside Cap
Chainlink’s open interest has surged past 1.27 million USDT, signaling heightened leverage amid a bearish retest of breakdown support. Potential price targets at $8 loom if the $11-$12 floor breaks, though CCIP adoption provides fundamental resilience. Mixed signals are present, with an oversold RSI suggesting bounce potential, but low volume tempers bullish breakout hopes to $18.
The volatile world of decentralized finance sees Chainlink ($LINK) as a cornerstone oracle network, bridging smart contracts with real-world data. However, recent price action paints a cautionary tale for holders. As of December 8, 2025, $LINK trades at approximately $13.87, up a modest 0.43% in the last 24 hours, with a market cap hovering around $9.66 billion. Analyst Ali Martinez (@ali_charts) has spotlighted a concerning development: the token’s completion of a retest at a critical breakdown zone, potentially paving the way for a sharp decline to $8.
Analysis of Open Interest and Price Action
The analysis hinges on the Chainlink/Tether perpetual contract’s open interest (OI) on Binance, which has spiked to over 1.27 million USDT. This chart, spanning from mid-2024 to early 2026, reveals a multi-year falling wedge pattern in OI—a compression phase often preceding explosive moves. LINK’s price recently breached a key support level around $14.75, retesting it as resistance before resuming downward momentum.
Chainlink $LINK completed its retest of the breakdown zone and could now be on its way to $8. pic.twitter.com/U2a8EPtfj4
— Ali (@ali_charts) December 7, 2025
The OI surge, while typically bullish, here amplifies downside risks, suggesting leveraged positions are piling in on the bearish side. Funding rates remain neutral, but the wedge’s lower boundary aligns with $11-$12, where a failure could accelerate selling pressure toward $8, a psychological floor tested during the 2024 bear phase.
Chainlink's Fundamentals vs. Current Price Structure
Fundamentally, Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) continues to gain traction, with recent integrations in DeFi protocols like Aave and Synthetix bolstering its utility. On-chain metrics show steady oracle adoption, with over 2,000 active feeds securing billions in value. December’s headlines reflect this duality: bullish calls of a “double bottom” formation and “short squeeze loading” contrast with warnings of failed breakouts above red resistance zones.
Despite these positives, macroeconomic headwinds—rising U.S. interest rates and Bitcoin’s consolidation below $95,000—could exacerbate altcoin weakness. LINK’s RSI at 35 hints at oversold conditions, offering a potential bounce, but volume lacks conviction for reversal.
Trading Approaches and Risk Management
For traders, this setup demands vigilance. Long-term holders might view $8 as a value entry, given Chainlink’s pivotal role in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), projected to hit $10 trillion by 2030. Short-term, however, risk management is paramount—stop-losses above $14.12 could mitigate whipsaws. As OI coils tighter, the breakout direction will dictate: upward for a rally to $18, or downward confirming the bear thesis. Chainlink’s links may hold, but in crypto’s chain reaction, one weak node could unravel the network.