Chainlink (LINK) price history: drops, recoveries and big days
Chainlink's yearly drops ran 40.25% to 80.43% on Binance, and six of seven yearly highs were regained. Daily moves, weekly falls and 24-hour results.
On Binance's LINKUSDT perp, Chainlink's biggest fall within each year from 2020 to 2026 ran from 40.25% to 80.43%. In six of those seven years, the price later closed back at that year's high, 88 to 713 days after the low. The one that has not is 2021: no later close got back to the $52.31 of May 9, 2021.
These are past cases, not a forecast. A "perp" is a futures contract that never expires, and USDT is a dollar-linked coin used to show the price.
How big is a normal Chainlink day?
We measured how far the closing price moved from the previous UTC day's close, with the plus or minus sign removed. The typical day is the median of those sizes: half the days were smaller and half were bigger.
| Year | LINK days counted | LINK typical day | LINK days over 10% | BTC typical day | BTC days over 10% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 349 | 3.31% | 11.46% | 1.47% | 2.19% |
| 2021 | 365 | 4.35% | 14.25% | 2.35% | 2.74% |
| 2022 | 365 | 3.09% | 5.48% | 1.47% | 2.47% |
| 2023 | 365 | 2.09% | 2.19% | 1.00% | 0.27% |
| 2024 | 366 | 2.78% | 4.64% | 1.37% | 0.55% |
| 2025 | 365 | 2.70% | 5.21% | 1.15% | 0.00% |
| 2026 | 292 | 1.71% | 2.05% | 1.17% | 0.68% |
| All years | 2,467 | 2.79% | 6.57% | 1.38% | 1.31% |
LINK's history starts on January 17, 2020, so its 2020 row is a partial year. Both coins' 2026 rows run only through October 19, 2026.
LINK's typical day was bigger than Bitcoin's in every year. Among the 10 Binance coins we measured, it ranked in the top 4 for typical day in every year from 2020 to 2026, and 1st in 2020. Over its whole history it ranked 3rd; see 10 coins ranked by volatility.
On 25.74% of days, LINK moved more than 5%. For Bitcoin it was 9.24% of days.
What were Chainlink's biggest days?
On 1 day in 10, LINK moved more than 8.37%. On 1 day in 100, it moved more than 17.56%. The average daily move was 3.83%.
The biggest rises were +33.30% on December 2, 2024, +33.11% on May 24, 2021 and +29.12% on September 24, 2020. The biggest falls were −47.76% on March 12, 2020, −38.38% on May 19, 2021 and −21.43% on October 10, 2025.
Bitcoin's largest fall in its Binance history was −39.98% on March 12, 2020, the same date as LINK's largest.
How often did LINK fall 10%, 20% or 30% in a week?
For every day, we compared the closing price with the close seven days earlier.
| Fall over 7 days | LINK: days (share of days) | LINK: separate episodes | BTC: days (share of days) | BTC: separate episodes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% or more | 399 (16.21%) | 76 | 176 (6.79%) | 46 |
| 20% or more | 97 (3.94%) | 31 | 33 (1.27%) | 10 |
| 30% or more | 25 (1.02%) | 8 | 9 (0.35%) | 2 |
One bad week gives several bad days in a row. So we also count separate episodes: the first day past the line after at least seven days without one.
A 10% weekly fall happened on 22.74% of days in 2021 (83 of 365) and 22.47% in 2022 (82 of 365). In 2023 it was 7.67% (28 of 365), and in 2026 through October 19 it was 9.25% (27 of 292).
All 25 days with a 30% weekly fall came in the first three years: 8 in 2020, 8 in 2021 and 9 in 2022. There were none from 2023 through 2026. Weekly jumps were more common than weekly falls: LINK closed at least 10% above its close seven days earlier on 516 days (20.97%).
How deep were LINK's yearly drops, and how long did recovery take?
For each calendar year, we found the largest fall from a closing high reached earlier that year. Then we counted the days from the low until the first later close at or above that high. A recovery here means getting back to that year's own high, not to an all-time high.
| Year | LINK biggest fall | High to low (date, closing price) | LINK days from low back to that high | BTC biggest fall | BTC days from low back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | −62.08% | 2020-03-05, $4.71 to 2020-03-16, $1.78 | 99 | −54.00% | 137 |
| 2021 | −73.75% | 2021-05-09, $52.31 to 2021-07-20, $13.73 | not yet | −53.22% | 91 |
| 2022 | −80.43% | 2022-01-10, $27.97 to 2022-12-30, $5.47 | 713 | −66.94% | 446 |
| 2023 | −40.25% | 2023-04-18, $8.58 to 2023-06-19, $5.13 | 124 | −20.01% | 42 |
| 2024 | −56.33% | 2024-03-10, $21.70 to 2024-08-05, $9.48 | 119 | −26.26% | 61 |
| 2025 | −59.03% | 2025-01-21, $26.65 to 2025-04-08, $10.92 | 136 | −32.05% | not yet |
| 2026 | −48.99% | 2026-01-14, $14.11 to 2026-06-30, $7.20 | 88 | −39.52% | not yet |
"Not yet" means no daily close through October 19, 2026 had got back to that high. It does not mean it never will.
LINK's yearly fall was deeper than Bitcoin's in every row. Yet in 2025 and 2026, LINK got back to its yearly high while Bitcoin had not. The 2026 recovery came on September 26, 2026, 88 days after the June 30 low.
Falls came at different speeds. The 2020 drop was 62.08% in just 11 days from peak to low, and the way back took 99 days. The 2022 drop was slow and took most of the year. For more coins, see crypto drawdowns and recovery times, and for the idea itself, what max drawdown means.
Did LINK rise more often than a coin flip over 24 hours?
For every hourly closing price, we looked at the price 24 hours later and asked whether it was higher. A coin flip would say yes 50% of the time.
| 24 hours later | LINK | BTC |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly start points | 59,200 | 62,335 |
| Share higher | 50.49% | 51.88% |
| Share higher after 0.05% fee each way | 49.56% | 49.30% |
| Middle move | +0.05% | +0.07% |
| 10th percentile | −5.46% | −3.07% |
| 90th percentile | +6.20% | +3.49% |
Among DOGE, ADA, AVAX and LINK on Binance, LINK was the only one above half. Even so, it was close to a coin flip. By year, LINK's share higher was 53.12% in 2020, 52.15% in 2021 and 51.88% in 2023, and below half in the other four years. It was lowest in 2022, at 48.55%.
The spread is wide: 1 start in 10 ended below −5.46%, and 1 in 10 ended above +6.20%.
What does this not show?
It does not show where LINK goes next, and nothing here is a reason to buy or sell. The 50.49% is not a chance of rising. It covers one contract on one exchange, for a coin that still trades today. Hourly start points overlap, so 59,200 is not 59,200 separate tests. LINK has a shorter history than Bitcoin, and we did not test why prices moved. To learn what a chart match is, read what a crypto chart analog is.
How we measured this
We used Binance's daily and hourly price bars for LINKUSDT and BTCUSDT through October 19, 2026. Yearly drops restart the running high each January and use daily closes. The 24-hour test uses every hourly close that had a full 24 hours of later hourly closes, and flat results count as not higher. Daily closes can miss a low or high inside the day. The fee line applies 0.05% to entry and exit and leaves out funding, spread and slippage.
Try this in Comparand
With Comparand connected to your AI agent, you can repeat this yourself:
- Ask: "Which exchanges do you cover, and what data does each have?" The free venue_coverage tool lists each exchange with its datasets, kinds and intervals. The chart search covers LINK on Binance and Bybit perps, but not on Coinbase or OKX.
- Ask: "Get Binance LINKUSDT daily bars from January 17, 2020 through October 19, 2026 and find each year's biggest fall." The venue_bars tool returns opening, highest, lowest and closing prices plus volume, completed bars only. Use 1d for days or 1h for hours. It is free, and your agent does the math.
- Ask: "Show the 10 closest past charts to LINKUSDT's last 48 hourly bars on Binance, and what the price did 12, 24 and 48 hours later." The shape_analogs tool uses only LINK's own past on Binance. It shows each match's path and later moves in bp (100 bp is 1%), costs $0.01 per search, and returns no average or hit rate.
You can also try 3 coins free, or see the docs to connect your agent. These are past cases, not a forecast.
The short version
- A typical LINK day on Binance moved 2.79%, against 1.38% for Bitcoin. LINK moved more than 5% on 25.74% of days.
- LINK fell 10% or more over a week on 16.21% of days. All 25 days with a 30% weekly fall came in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
- Its biggest yearly falls ran from 40.25% to 80.43%. Six of seven yearly highs were regained, in 88 to 713 days after the low. The $52.31 close of May 9, 2021 has not been.
- Price was higher 24 hours later at 50.49% of start points, close to a coin flip.
Questions people ask
How volatile is Chainlink (LINK)?
On Binance LINKUSDT, from January 17, 2020 to October 19, 2026, a typical day moved 2.79% (ignoring direction), against 1.38% for Bitcoin's BTCUSDT. LINK moved more than 10% in a day on 6.57% of days.
How far did Chainlink fall in 2022, and did it recover?
On Binance LINKUSDT, the largest 2022 fall was 80.43%, from the January 10 close to the December 30 close. A daily close first got back to the January 10 level on December 12, 2024, which is 713 days after the low.
Has Chainlink recovered from its 2021 high?
Not by October 19, 2026. LINKUSDT fell 73.75% from $52.31 on May 9, 2021 to $13.73 on July 20, 2021, and no later daily close had got back to $52.31. That does not say whether it will.
Did Chainlink recover faster than Bitcoin?
Sometimes. On Binance, LINK got back to its 2025 and 2026 yearly highs (on August 22, 2025 and September 26, 2026), while Bitcoin had not regained either by October 19, 2026. In 2023 and 2024, LINK took longer: 124 and 119 days from the low, against 42 and 61 for Bitcoin.
Does Chainlink rise more often than it falls over 24 hours?
It was close to even. LINKUSDT was higher 24 hours later at 50.49% of 59,200 hourly start points, with a middle move of +0.05%. Windows overlap, and this describes the past only.