NEAR Protocol falls to $3.40: why long liquidations are dragging NEAR down

NEAR Protocol has lost 8.8 percent in 24 hours and now trades at around $3.40, roughly €3.07 (as of November 12, 2026, 3:50 p.m. CET, data from CoinGecko). What the data shows: the decline coincides with a wave of forced closures of long positions on the futures market, and NEAR is the weakest performer among the 25 largest cryptocurrencies by market value. Our assessment follows further below. The figures point more to the end of an overheated autumn rally than to a new problem in the NEAR network.

As of publication there is no single trigger such as an outage, a lawsuit or a large sale. What there is, is market data: liquidations, a falling funding rate and shrinking open interest. These three metrics explain how a weak day for crypto turned into a clear setback for NEAR.

NEAR price at its lowest level since September 18

According to CoinGecko, the daily high was $3.80 and the daily low $3.36. NEAR last traded lower at the start of September 18, 2026, at around $3.15. Over seven days the decline amounts to 14.0 percent, over 30 days to 31.9 percent. NEAR has a market value of around $4.46 billion, which ranks the token 22nd among the largest cryptocurrencies.

A look back at the autumn puts the drop in context. In mid-September NEAR cost just under $2.50, on October 12 almost $5.90. Measured against the 30-day high of $5.26 on October 22, it is now down by a good 35 percent. Over the year, NEAR is still up by around 30 percent. The all-time high of $20.44 from January 2022 is 83 percent above the current price.

What separates a correction low from a crash

In market terms, a correction is a decline of at least ten percent after a prior rise, without the broader trend necessarily being broken. The definition fits NEAR. The price is still well above its summer level, but it has given back most of its October gains.

NEAR since November 5: the $3.70 level did not hold

On November 5, cryptoticker.io examined the fall of NEAR to $3.70 and its shrinking TVL. At the time the price stood at $3.70, and the decline in total value locked could be explained almost entirely by the lower token price. Since then NEAR has lost a further eight percent or so. The zone around $3.60, where the price found support several times between November 9 and 11, broke this afternoon.

Two things have changed since November 5. On November 10, NEAR AI, the artificial intelligence unit associated with the protocol, reported a security incident that exposed data of around 100 users. According to NEAR AI, it did not affect coins, wallets or private keys. The futures market has also turned. Until November 11, leveraged buyers were still paying premiums. Today they no longer are.

Long liquidations on OKX: leveraged buyers are forced out

A liquidation is the forced closure of a leveraged position by the exchange once the posted collateral no longer covers the losses. For long positions this means the exchange sells, and that sale pushes the price down further, which then reaches the next positions.

cryptoticker.io analysed the publicly visible liquidation orders on OKX in the perpetual NEAR contract. The last 100 recorded orders came from just under three hours in the early afternoon. In that period, long positions worth around $510,000 were forcibly closed, compared with only around $3,000 in short positions. That puts the ratio at roughly 170 to 1. The count covers only one exchange and only part of the day, so the actual total across all trading venues is correspondingly higher.

The ratio of accounts also shows how one-sided positioning was. On OKX on November 11, around 2.25 accounts bet on rising NEAR prices for every account betting on a decline. When so many traders stand on the same side, a weak overall market is enough to set off a series of forced sales.

Funding rate and open interest: the NEAR futures market cools

The funding rate is a regular balancing payment between buyers and sellers of perpetual futures that keeps the contract price close to the spot price. When it is positive, the long side, meaning the buyers, pays. On OKX the rate for NEAR stood at 0.01 percent per eight-hour period several times on November 9, 10 and 11, the usual standard rate in a market with excess buying. For the period ending at 5 p.m. CET on November 12 it is only 0.00015 percent, practically zero.

Open interest measures the value of all open futures contracts. On OKX it fell from around $53.9 million on November 11 to $47.5 million on November 12, each measured in the early afternoon CET. That is a decline of around twelve percent, slightly more than the price drop. Part of the positions were therefore closed and not just revalued lower. On the decentralised derivatives exchange Hyperliquid, around 40 million NEAR are currently held in open contracts, with daily turnover of around $62 million.

cryptoticker.io compiled this analysis itself on November 12, 2026. It is based on public market data from the OKX and Hyperliquid exchanges and on price data from CoinGecko. We reviewed 100 liquidation orders, the funding rates of the last nine settlements, the account ratios of the last eight days and the open interest of the last 35 days.

Overall market on November 12: NEAR falls three times as hard as Bitcoin

The entire crypto market is retreating on Thursday. According to CoinGecko, Bitcoin is down 2.7 percent at around $71,650, and Ether is down 2.7 percent at around $2,000. Larger altcoins such as Cardano, Chainlink and Litecoin are falling by 4.4 to 4.5 percent, Monero by 6.4 percent. At minus 8.8 percent, NEAR sits at the bottom of this list.

The pattern is familiar from earlier pullbacks. Coins that rose the most beforehand fall disproportionately when the overall market weakens, because that is where more leveraged positions and more short-term gains sit. NEAR more than doubled between mid-September and mid-October and was among the strongest performers of the large altcoins.

Does the NEAR AI incident play a role?

A direct link cannot be proven. According to the company, the data incident at NEAR AI affected servers for language models, not the blockchain, its validators or smart contracts. On the day it was reported, November 10, NEAR lost only around one percent according to CoinGecko. The sharp decline only set in two days later, at the same time as the weak overall market.

Issuance cut HSP-029: NEAR tokenomics only take effect from 2027

The decline surprises many holders because the NEAR network has just adopted a tighter monetary policy. In early November the House of Stake, the voting body of NEAR stakers, approved proposal HSP-029. It gradually lowers the maximum annual issuance of new NEAR from 2.5 to 1.6 percent over 24 months. According to Altcoin Buzz's report on the vote result, daily issuance will fall from around 89,500 to around 57,300 NEAR. Over two years, about 11.8 million new tokens will not be created, over six years about 66.1 million.

None of this is in effect yet. After the vote, validators must adopt a protocol upgrade, followed by a 90-day grace period in which exchanges, wallets and staking providers adjust their information. As cryptoticker.io reported on November 3, the reduction will therefore begin in early February 2027 at the earliest. Until then, issuance continues at 2.5 percent, and as before, 90 percent of new tokens go to stakers and validators.

The decision also has a downside for stakers. According to the proposal's model calculations, the gross staking yield falls from around 5.27 to around 3.37 percent, before validator fees. Anyone who holds NEAR mainly for staking income will therefore be credited with fewer new tokens in the future.

NEAR levels: support at $3.15, resistance at $3.80

On the downside, attention turns first to today's daily low of $3.36. Below that lies the area around $3.15, the price at the start of September 18, from which the autumn rally took its steepest leg. Based on CoinGecko's daily prices, the 200-day moving average is around $2.65, well below the current price.

On the upside, the first hurdle is today's daily high of $3.80. The 50-day average is at around $4.64, the 30-day high at $5.26. As long as NEAR trades below the 50-day average, the short-term trend points down.

The levels have shifted since the article of November 5. At the time, the zone around $3.60 was seen as the next support. That zone broke today and now becomes the first resistance zone on the way back up.

Editorial assessment: the NEAR correction after the autumn rally

Our assessment: today's decline looks more like a cleanup of the futures market than a new fundamental weakness. Several points support this. The liquidations hit almost exclusively the long side, the funding rate has fallen from a persistently positive value to zero, and there is no confirmed news that explains the decline on its own. Against this view, NEAR has fallen in several sharp waves since October 22, and the price is below the 50-day average of around $4.64. The data do not yet show a bottom, and the issuance cut will support the price next year at the earliest. We do not derive a buy or sell recommendation from this.

Buying NEAR in the EU: MiCA-licensed providers, custody and staking lock-ups

If you want to buy NEAR in the EU, you will find the token on most large trading venues. Since the European MiCA regulation has applied in full, providers that sell crypto assets to customers in the EU need authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider. The list of authorised providers and their fees vary widely. Our comparison of crypto exchanges shows where NEAR can be traded and at what cost.

For custody, the choice remains between an exchange and your own wallet. On an exchange the coins sit with the provider. In your own wallet you hold the keys yourself. Depending on the provider, staked NEAR are locked for a waiting period before they can be sold again. In a falling market you should know this period before you stake.

Leverage on NEAR: when a liquidation looms

Today shows how quickly leveraged positions can be lost. With five times leverage, a price drop of just under 20 percent is enough to wipe out the collateral of a long position completely. With ten times leverage, just under ten percent suffices. The 8.8 percent decline in a single day was therefore already close to that threshold. Exchanges also usually close the position before a total loss, as soon as the maintenance margin is breached.

If you trade futures, you should know the liquidation threshold before entering, set a stop and factor in funding costs. Centralised exchanges and decentralised perp platforms differ considerably in leverage limits, fees and margin models. Our perp DEX comparison shows the differences. For retail investors, leveraged crypto products carry the risk of total loss.

NEAR at $3.40: below $3.15 the next support is missing

1. Check where you buy: If you want to buy more or sell, compare the provider's fees and authorisation first. Our comparison of MiCA-licensed crypto exchanges gives an overview.
2. Limit leverage: If a position's liquidation threshold is above $3.15, it is close to the price after today. The platforms' leverage limits and fees are listed in the perp DEX comparison.
3. Recalculate staking: From 2027 the gross yield falls gradually from around 5.27 to 3.37 percent. Which providers offer which rates and lock-up periods is shown in the comparison of staking platforms.

(As of November 12, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)