TLDR
- NEAR is trading near $4.63 on Oct. 15, down about 5% on the day after a rejection near $6.
- Crypto liquidations reached about $959 million in 24 hours, with $880 million from long positions.
- The Bitwise NEAR ETF (NRR) has drawn about $79.3 million in net inflows since its Sept. 29 launch.
- NEAR Intents processed a record $4.8 billion in swaps in September.
- Analyst Michaël van de Poppe says he would wait for a 30-40% drop before accumulating.
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) is trading around $4.63 on the Oct. 15 Binance daily chart. The token has pulled back sharply from its 2026 high near $6.
NEAR opened the day near $4.89 and reached $4.91 before falling as low as $4.59. That leaves it down roughly 5% on the daily candle.
The drop comes as the wider crypto market faces heavy selling after hotter U.S. inflation data. NEAR had climbed from about $1.60 in August to almost $6 earlier this month.
Chart Shows Momentum Fading
The daily chart still shows an upward structure, and NEAR remains above its longer-term rising trendline. The moving average sits near $3.48, and a former resistance zone around $3.00-$3.40 could act as support if the decline deepens.
The daily RSI has dropped to 50.32, close to neutral, after rising above 80 during the rally. MACD has turned bearish, with the MACD line near 0.338 below its signal line near 0.466.
The first level traders are watching is $4.50. A break below it could shift focus to $4.00 and then the $3.40-$3.50 area. On the upside, reclaiming $5.00-$5.20 would be the first sign the correction is easing, and the level to watch next is $4.50.
Analyst Michaël van de Poppe said NEAR will eventually be a good opportunity to accumulate again, but he does not think now is the right spot. He said a 30-40% drop would make him “super happy” to buy, adding that the next run could take NEAR above $10.
At some point, $NEAR will be a tremendous opportunity to be accumulating this one again.
I just don't think right now is the right spot.
If this goes down by 30-40%, I'd be super happy to be accumulating a lot of this one again, as the next run will likely take $NEAR to above… pic.twitter.com/MZTArI4BnX
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) October 14, 2026
Liquidations Add Pressure
The selloff is happening during a leverage flush across crypto markets. About $959.43 million in positions were liquidated over 24 hours, with $879.71 million from longs.
Four-hour liquidations reached about $521.99 million, including $490.56 million in bullish positions. NEAR also saw elevated liquidations, with longs making up most forced closures.
Forced selling can push altcoin prices lower even without project-specific news. Liquidated positions create automatic market sells.
Institutional demand has moved in a different direction. The Bitwise NEAR ETF (NRR) recorded about $4.0 million in inflows on Oct. 12 and $3.9 million on Oct. 13.
The fund has attracted about $79.3 million in cumulative net inflows since launching Sept. 29. It has seen 10 inflow days, no outflow days and two flat sessions, with a $36 million launch-day inflow as its largest.
On-chain activity is also strong. NEAR Intents processed a record $4.8 billion in swaps in September, and confidential TVL reached about $166.9 million by Oct. 11.
NEAR has reported more than $34 billion in cumulative Intents volume. It also integrated with Robinhood Crypto Chain, letting users swap across more than 30 networks through near.com.
A governance proposal would cut annual NEAR issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over two years. Market-wide liquidations near $1 billion are weighing on price, while ETF inflows and Intents activity continue.
