Monero (XMR) Overtakes Chainlink (LINK) in Market Cap Despite LINK's 15% Surge
Key Takeaways
- •Monero's market capitalization of approximately $10.07 billion now exceeds Chainlink's $9.96 billion, placing XMR among the top 10 cryptocurrencies.
- •Chainlink's LINK rose nearly 18% over the past seven days and broke out above $13 after recovering from the $8–$9 range in August.
- •Monero climbed from roughly $350 in early August to around $570 recently, although it declined about 1.4% in the past week.
- •Both assets show elevated momentum, with Monero's RSI near 70 and Chainlink's above 75, signaling overbought conditions and correction risk.
- •The roughly $110 million market cap gap between the two tokens means Monero's top-10 position could be reversed if LINK's recent outperformance persists.
Monero (XMR) Overtakes Chainlink (LINK) in Market Cap Despite LINK's 15% Surge
By market capitalization, Monero has surpassed Chainlink, pushing $XMR into the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies as the two assets move in sharply different directions. According to the market data provided, Monero is valued at approximately $10.07 billion, just ahead of Chainlink's $9.96 billion capitalization.
The milestone is notable because the two projects occupy very different niches in the crypto market. Monero is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency whose obfuscation features have historically led major exchanges such as Binance to delist or restrict the token, while Chainlink is a decentralized oracle network that supplies off-chain data to smart contracts and counts numerous institutional and cross-chain integrations among its use cases.
Chainlink holds its own
Chainlink has performed well in its own right. $LINK has gained nearly 18% over the past seven days and roughly 8.7% in the last twenty-four hours. After a swift recovery from the $8–$9 range in August, its daily chart shows a breakout above $13.
Monero's path has been different. Although $XMR has slipped about 1.4% over the past week, it retained enough market capitalization to overtake $LINK thanks to a much larger rally over the previous month. $XMR climbed from roughly $350 in early August to around $570 recently.
Despite the most recent consolidation, Monero remains in a strong technical uptrend. $XMR is trading at approximately $536, well above its 20-day moving average near $470 and its longer-term averages, which sit between $381 and $414.
Both assets remain overbought
An RSI around 70 indicates that momentum remains elevated, though the reading also points to a heightened risk of a short-term correction. Chainlink appears even more stretched in the short term.
$LINK's 20-day moving average is still around $11.15, while its latest breakout carried the price toward $13.50. With the RSI having risen above 75, the asset is clearly in overbought territory. The next obvious resistance zone now sits in the $13.50–$14 range.
Monero's place in the top 10 is therefore far from assured. The gap between $XMR and $LINK currently stands at only about $110 million, or slightly more than 1% of their respective valuations. Given that $LINK has significantly outperformed $XMR over the past week, even a modest continuation of the current divergence could flip their positions.
For now, however, Monero holds the lead. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency has returned to the market's highest-capitalization group on the back of its 2025 rally, but $LINK remains close enough that the ranking is a contest rather than a clear takeover.
Source: u.today
