The NEAR protocol (NEAR) has seen a sharp decline, falling 3% in the last 24 hours and more than 11% in the last week. The decline comes amid broader losses in the crypto market, erasing gains following Donald Trump’s Bitcoin 2024 speech.
The bearish market trend has resulted in significant liquidations, particularly impacting long positions.
NEAR is currently trading around $5.23, hovering around the psychologically critical $5 mark.
Bulls are struggling to fend off bears as Coinglass data shows that NEAR bull bets have seen over $313,000 in liquidations in the last 24 hours alone.
Total liquidations for NEAR traders exceeded $352,000, with short positions accounting for only $39,000.
This trend is in line with the broader cryptocurrency market, which has seen over $134 million in liquidations, with long positions taking the biggest hit at over $109 million. Short positions have seen around $25 million in liquidations, highlighting the current market volatility.
NEAR Protocol and Decentralized AI Marketplace
Despite the recent downturn, the NEAR protocol continues to attract interest, particularly in the decentralized AI and Web3 markets. NEAR is a proof-of-stake Layer-1 blockchain designed to support decentralized applications (dApps), making it a hot spot for investors looking to tap into these innovative sectors.
One indicator of this growing interest is the recent launch of an AI fund by digital asset manager Grayscale, which includes the NEAR protocol among its first assets.
The Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund is aimed at accredited investors seeking exposure to the native tokens of leading decentralized AI protocols.
Along with NEAR, the fund includes tokens such as Filecoin, Render, Livepeer and Bittensor.
Grayscale also introduced the NEAR Trust, an investment product that provides exclusive opportunities to invest in NEAR, highlighting the protocol’s potential for future growth and adoption.
What will happen to the price of NEAR next?
The crypto market seemed poised for a breakout earlier this week, with Bitcoin jumping to $70,000 following the Bitcoin 2024 conference. However, concerns over a potential US government sell-off in BTC have seen the market retreat, with altcoins like NEAR falling back to key support levels.
NEAR is currently trading at a critical threshold. Technical indicators suggest that bears may continue to apply pressure, which could lead to further declines. However, NEAR’s long-term prospects remain promising due to its strategic positioning in decentralized AI and Web3 markets.
The Relative Strength Index and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence indicators on the daily chart both favor sellers in the short term. Key prices to watch are $5.00 and $4.41.
However, if the bulls remain above $5.00, a bounce above the major hurdle around $6.46 could allow them to reach a yearly high at $9.00.
The post NEAR Protocol Shows Over $300K in Long Liquidations as Price Slide appeared first on Invezz
