NEAR Protocol (NEAR) has faced a sharp decline, dropping 3% in the past 24 hours and over 11% in the past week. This downturn comes amid broader losses in the cryptocurrency market, erasing the gains that followed Donald Trump’s speech at Bitcoin 2024.
The market’s bearish trend has led to significant liquidations, notably impacting long positions.
Currently, NEAR is trading around $5.23, hovering near the psychologically critical $5 mark.
Bulls are struggling to fend off the bears, as data from Coinglass indicates that bullish bets on NEAR have seen over $313,000 liquidated in the last 24 hours alone.
Total liquidations for NEAR traders have exceeded $352,000, with only $39,000 accounted for by short positions.
This trend aligns with the broader cryptocurrency market, which has witnessed over $134 million in liquidations, with longs suffering the most at over $109 million. Shorts have seen approximately $25 million in positions liquidated, highlighting the market’s current volatility.
NEAR Protocol and the decentralized AI market
Despite recent declines, 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 focal point for investors looking to tap into these innovative sectors.
One indicator of this growing interest is digital asset manager Grayscale’s recent launch of an AI fund that includes NEAR Protocol among its first assets.
The Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund targets accredited investors seeking exposure to native tokens of leading decentralized AI protocols.
Alongside NEAR, the fund features tokens such as Filecoin, Render, Livepeer, and Bittensor.
Grayscale has also introduced the NEAR Trust, an investment product providing exclusive opportunities to invest in NEAR, underscoring the protocol’s potential for future growth and adoption.
What’s next for NEAR price?
The cryptocurrency market appeared ready for a breakout earlier this week when Bitcoin surged to the $70,000 mark following the Bitcoin 2024 conference. However, fears of a potential BTC sell-off by the US government have led to a market retreat, with altcoins like NEAR falling back to key support levels.
Currently, NEAR is trading at a critical threshold. Technical indicators suggest that bears might continue to exert pressure, which could lead to further declines. Nonetheless, the long-term outlook for NEAR remains promising due to its strategic positioning in the decentralized AI and Web3 markets.
NEAR price chart. Source: TradingView
The relative strength index and the moving average convergence divergence indicators on the daily chart both favour sellers in the short term. The key price to watch is $5.00 and $4.41.
However, if bulls stay above $5.00, a rebound beyond the primary hurdle around $6.46 could allow them to target the year-to-date peak at $9.00.
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