diff --git a/src/components/fx/hover.js b/src/components/fx/hover.js
index c414b95454..9a2efdc3b6 100644
--- a/src/components/fx/hover.js
+++ b/src/components/fx/hover.js
@@ -213,9 +213,10 @@ exports.multiHovers = function multiHovers(hoverItems, opts) {
     // Fix vertical overlap
     var tooltipSpacing = 5;
     var lastBottomY = 0;
+    var anchor = 0;
     hoverLabel
         .sort(function(a, b) {return a.y0 - b.y0;})
-        .each(function(d) {
+        .each(function(d, i) {
             var topY = d.y0 - d.by / 2;
 
             if((topY - tooltipSpacing) < lastBottomY) {
@@ -225,8 +226,12 @@ exports.multiHovers = function multiHovers(hoverItems, opts) {
             }
 
             lastBottomY = topY + d.by + d.offset;
-        });
 
+            if(i === opts.anchorIndex || 0) anchor = d.offset;
+        })
+        .each(function(d) {
+            d.offset -= anchor;
+        });
 
     alignHoverText(hoverLabel, fullOpts.rotateLabels);
 
diff --git a/src/traces/sankey/plot.js b/src/traces/sankey/plot.js
index 8a4d518fec..8f3815b79e 100644
--- a/src/traces/sankey/plot.js
+++ b/src/traces/sankey/plot.js
@@ -159,14 +159,8 @@ module.exports = function plot(gd, calcData) {
 
         var hoverItems = [];
 
-        // For each related links, create a hoverItem
-        for(var i = 0; i < d.flow.links.length; i++) {
-            var link = d.flow.links[i];
-            if(gd._fullLayout.hovermode === 'closest' && d.link.pointNumber !== link.pointNumber) continue;
-            link.fullData = link.trace;
-            obj = d.link.trace.link;
-            var hoverCenterX;
-            var hoverCenterY;
+        function hoverCenterPosition(link) {
+            var hoverCenterX, hoverCenterY;
             if(link.circular) {
                 hoverCenterX = (link.circularPathData.leftInnerExtent + link.circularPathData.rightInnerExtent) / 2 + d.parent.translateX;
                 hoverCenterY = link.circularPathData.verticalFullExtent + d.parent.translateY;
@@ -174,12 +168,23 @@ module.exports = function plot(gd, calcData) {
                 hoverCenterX = (link.source.x1 + link.target.x0) / 2 + d.parent.translateX;
                 hoverCenterY = (link.y0 + link.y1) / 2 + d.parent.translateY;
             }
+            return [hoverCenterX, hoverCenterY];
+        }
 
+        // For each related links, create a hoverItem
+        var anchorIndex = 0;
+        for(var i = 0; i < d.flow.links.length; i++) {
+            var link = d.flow.links[i];
+            if(gd._fullLayout.hovermode === 'closest' && d.link.pointNumber !== link.pointNumber) continue;
+            if(d.link.pointNumber === link.pointNumber) anchorIndex = i;
+            link.fullData = link.trace;
+            obj = d.link.trace.link;
+            var hoverCenter = hoverCenterPosition(link);
             var hovertemplateLabels = {valueLabel: d3.format(d.valueFormat)(link.value) + d.valueSuffix};
 
             hoverItems.push({
-                x: hoverCenterX,
-                y: hoverCenterY,
+                x: hoverCenter[0],
+                y: hoverCenter[1],
                 name: hovertemplateLabels.valueLabel,
                 text: [
                     link.label || '',
@@ -192,7 +197,7 @@ module.exports = function plot(gd, calcData) {
                 fontFamily: castHoverOption(obj, 'font.family'),
                 fontSize: castHoverOption(obj, 'font.size'),
                 fontColor: castHoverOption(obj, 'font.color'),
-                idealAlign: d3.event.x < hoverCenterX ? 'right' : 'left',
+                idealAlign: d3.event.x < hoverCenter[0] ? 'right' : 'left',
 
                 hovertemplate: obj.hovertemplate,
                 hovertemplateLabels: hovertemplateLabels,
@@ -203,7 +208,8 @@ module.exports = function plot(gd, calcData) {
         var tooltips = Fx.multiHovers(hoverItems, {
             container: fullLayout._hoverlayer.node(),
             outerContainer: fullLayout._paper.node(),
-            gd: gd
+            gd: gd,
+            anchorIndex: anchorIndex
         });
 
         tooltips.each(function() {
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/sankey_circular_large.json b/test/image/mocks/sankey_circular_large.json
index 6af2352129..99c8af5835 100644
--- a/test/image/mocks/sankey_circular_large.json
+++ b/test/image/mocks/sankey_circular_large.json
@@ -220,10 +220,11 @@
           [1, "#9467bd"]
         ]
       }],
-      "hovertemplate": "<b>%{label}</b><br>%{flow.labelConcentration:%0.2f}<br>%{flow.value}"
+      "hovertemplate": "%{label}<br><b>flow.labelConcentration</b>: %{flow.labelConcentration:0.2%}<br><b>flow.concentration</b>: %{flow.concentration:0.2%}<br><b>flow.value</b>: %{flow.value}"
     }
   }],
   "layout": {
+      "hovermode": "x",
       "width": 800,
       "height": 800
   }