LINK, the cryptocurrency token that powers the Chainlink decentralized oracle network, suddenly surged by 9% in early Friday trading, rising from a low of $12.98 to $14.41.

At the time of writing, LINK was up 8.39% in the last 24 hours to $14.27. Chainlink's price increase remains significant as a handful of assets traded in red at press time.

The crypto market saw mixed price action in the early Friday session as investors digested new consumer sentiment data, which pointed to greater inflation expectations. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet next week, and traders expect the central bank to maintain interest rates at present levels.

Bitcoin (BTC) continued to struggle as it battled to remain above $83,000. The top cryptocurrency by market capitalization is currently up 2% for the day. It fell 13% in the first quarter and is nearly 30% below its all-time high in January.

Chainlink, on the other hand, has skyrocketed in the last 24 hours and currently ranks as the 12th largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalization of $9.11 billion. The token is down 18% weekly.

506,226 LINK on move

In recent hours, a significant amount of LINK has been on the move as whales, or large holders, respond to the recent Chainlink price movement.

On-chain data has revealed a massive whale transaction amid Chainlink's recent price increase. According to SpotOnChain, a large whale spent $7.1 million USDC to purchase 506,226 LINK at an average price of $14.03 early Friday.

To fund the transaction, the whale sold 1,108.83 ETH for $2.1 million USDC and took out an extra $5 million USDC from Spark.

Despite the price increase, the whale's long position now shows an unrealized loss of $194,000. This indicates that the whale entered the market somewhat ahead of the upward trend and has yet to break even.