Why did the price of NEAR fall?

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) dropped 4.6% in the last 24 hours after a strong 47% rally over the past week. This pullback is due to investors taking profits, technical signs that the price was overbought, and a general shift away from riskier crypto assets.

1. Profit-taking after big gains – The recent 47% jump led some traders to sell and lock in profits.
2. Technical resistance levels – NEAR couldn’t hold above the important $2.81 price point.
3. Altcoin weakness – Bitcoin’s market share increased to 59.2%, pulling money away from altcoins like NEAR.
4. Risks in crypto treasury holdings – Some crypto companies holding NEAR face volatility concerns, adding pressure.

Deep Dive

1. Profit-Taking After Rally (Short-Term Downtrend)

Overview: NEAR’s price surged 47% last week, fueled by excitement around AI and blockchain technology, along with $4.5 billion in NEAR Intents trading volume. The recent 24-hour drop is a normal pullback as traders take profits after rapid gains.

What this means: Many short-term traders likely sold near the $2.94 price level. Technical indicators like the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 81.13 showed NEAR was overbought, and the MACD histogram suggested momentum was weakening.

Key levels to watch: If NEAR can stay above $2.81 (the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level), it may hold support. Falling below $2.44 (50% Fibonacci level) could signal further declines.

2. Broader Altcoin Weakness (Mixed Impact)

Overview: Bitcoin’s dominance in the crypto market rose to 59.2%, while the overall crypto market’s fear/greed index dropped to 29, indicating extreme fear. NEAR’s 4.6% drop was sharper than the overall market’s 1.15% decline.

What this means: Investors are moving money into Bitcoin as a safer option amid global uncertainties, which puts pressure on altcoins like NEAR. NEAR’s price tends to be more volatile than Bitcoin, which made its losses more pronounced.

3. Crypto Treasury Risks (Negative Outlook)

Overview: Some publicly traded crypto companies, such as Greenlane and OceanPal, have increased their NEAR holdings. Moody’s has warned that these “exotic token” investments can lead to higher risks of forced selling during market downturns.

What this means: Because NEAR is part of these speculative portfolios, it’s more vulnerable to sell-offs if these companies need to reduce risk. Recent losses totaling $17 billion in crypto treasury stocks have added to negative market sentiment.

Conclusion

NEAR’s recent price drop is a natural cooldown after a strong rally, influenced by Bitcoin’s rising dominance and specific risks tied to crypto treasury holdings.

What to watch next: Can NEAR hold the $2.60 level (38.2% Fibonacci retracement) if Bitcoin’s price stabilizes? Keep an eye on NEAR Intents trading volume and how validators respond after the upcoming halving event.

What could affect the price of NEAR?

NEAR balances AI innovation with market ups and downs.

1. Ecosystem Growth – NEAR Intents reached $4.5 billion in swaps, driving more cross-chain activity.
2. Halving Impact – Inflation cut to 2.5% tightens token supply.
3. Regulatory Risks – The UK’s £20,000 stablecoin limit could slow institutional interest.

Deep Dive

1. NEAR Intents Adoption (Positive Outlook)

Overview:
NEAR Intents is a tool that lets users swap assets across different blockchains. By November 2025, it handled $4.5 billion in swaps and earned $8.2 million in fees, supporting over 120 types of assets. Partnerships with platforms like THORWallet and Router Protocol have expanded its reach to networks like Stellar, Solana, and BNB Chain.

What this means:
More cross-chain swaps mean higher demand for NEAR as the platform that settles these transactions. With a fee of 0.18% per swap, NEAR could generate steady income, which may help increase its value if adoption keeps growing.

2. Inflation Halving (Mixed Effects)

Overview:
In October 2025, NEAR cut its annual token issuance from 5% to 2.5%, reducing new tokens entering the market. This also lowered staking rewards to about 4.75%, assuming half of the tokens are staked. Validators agreed to this change despite some initial disagreements (NEAR Protocol).

What this means:
Reducing token supply can make NEAR more scarce, potentially increasing its price over time. However, lower staking rewards might discourage some validators, which could affect the network’s security and decentralization. Expect some price swings as the market adjusts.

3. Regulatory Headwinds (Challenges Ahead)

Overview:
The UK plans to limit individual stablecoin holdings to £20,000 (CoinMarketCap) and has delayed crypto regulations until 2026. This could slow NEAR’s growth, especially since its stablecoin ecosystem is worth over $700 million.

What this means:
Stricter rules may slow decentralized finance (DeFi) activity on NEAR, particularly cross-chain stablecoin swaps. Still, NEAR’s focus on AI-driven tools might attract users less affected by these regulations.

Conclusion

NEAR’s future depends on growing cross-chain use while managing regulatory and network challenges. Its fast 1.2-second transaction finality and AI features like Shade Agents offer promise, but watch how UK policies and validator participation evolve in late 2025.

What are people saying about NEAR?

The NEAR Protocol (NEAR) community is balancing between excitement about a potential price breakout and careful buying. Here’s what’s currently trending:

1. The idea of NEAR reaching a $5 price target is gaining momentum based on technical analysis.
2. New AI and cross-chain integrations are generating buzz among developers.
3. A proposal to cut inflation is sparking debate among long-term holders.

Deep Dive

1. Resistance Test at $3.50 Signals Bullish Momentum

@cryptoking_nl shared:
"$NEAR was pushed back at $3.50 but is preparing to test this level again – breaking through could lead to a quick price jump."
– @cryptoking_nl (7.1K followers · 353 impressions · Sept 24, 2025)
View original post
What this means: Testing the $3.50 price point multiple times shows growing buying pressure, which is a positive sign. However, if NEAR fails to hold above this level, some investors might sell to take profits.

2. AI Integration with Allora Brings Developer Excitement

@Nipherme noted:
"Allora’s AI layer is now integrated with NEAR, boosting the capabilities of Shade Agent’s infrastructure with predictive analytics."
– @Nipherme (69.5K followers · 12.3K impressions · Sept 16, 2025)
View original post
What this means: This is a positive sign for developer interest, as NEAR is positioning itself as a blockchain ready for AI applications. However, it’s still early, and we’ll need to see how much this integration is actually used.

3. Inflation Cut Proposal Creates Mixed Reactions

The NEAR community is discussing a validator proposal to reduce annual inflation from 5% to 2.5%, aiming to "align incentives for long-term holders."
Read more
What this means: This has mixed effects. Lower inflation could reduce the number of tokens being sold, which might support the price. On the other hand, lower rewards for staking could discourage some participants, potentially affecting network security.

Conclusion

The overall sentiment around NEAR is optimistic but cautious. Technical signals suggest a possible breakout if NEAR can hold above the $3.40–$3.50 range. Keep an eye on the surge in open interest for derivatives contracts, which jumped 59% to $419 million on November 7 — this could confirm growing market confidence. The big question remains: will NEAR’s focus on AI and cross-chain features outweigh broader market concerns? The price charts in the coming week will provide more clarity.

What is the latest news about NEAR?

NEAR Protocol is gaining momentum by expanding cross-chain capabilities and staying engaged with regulatory developments, even as the market remains volatile. Here are the key updates:

1. Stellar Cross-Chain Swaps Now Live (November 10, 2025) – THORWallet has integrated NEAR Intents to enable easy swapping of Stellar assets.
2. NEAR Intents Reaches $4.5 Billion in Volume (November 10, 2025) – This milestone highlights growing use of NEAR’s cross-chain technology.
3. Bank of England’s Stablecoin Limits Face Criticism (November 10, 2025) – NEAR Foundation points to its regulatory model as a possible solution.

In-Depth Look

1. Stellar Cross-Chain Swaps Now Live (November 10, 2025)

What happened: THORWallet launched a new feature that lets users swap assets from the Stellar network (like XLM and USDC) directly with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other blockchains—without needing complicated bridge technology. This is powered by NEAR Intents, a system designed to make moving assets between different blockchains easier.

Why it matters: This is a positive development for NEAR because it expands how its technology can be used across different blockchain networks. It could attract users from Stellar’s payment-focused community and increase demand for NEAR’s native token, which helps coordinate these cross-chain transactions. (Cointelegraph)

2. NEAR Intents Reaches $4.5 Billion in Volume (November 10, 2025)

What happened: NEAR Intents, the part of NEAR Protocol that handles cross-chain transactions, has processed over $4.5 billion in total transaction volume and earned $8.2 million in fees. It supports more than 120 different assets across over 20 blockchains and uses AI-powered agents to automate swaps.

Why it matters: This shows strong growth and adoption of NEAR’s technology that connects different blockchains. The fees generated could also help improve rewards for network validators, especially after recent changes that reduced inflation. (CoinMarketCap)

3. Bank of England’s Stablecoin Limits Face Criticism (November 10, 2025)

What happened: The Bank of England suggested a £20,000 limit on how much stablecoin an individual can hold. This proposal has been criticized for potentially limiting business use of stablecoins. NEAR Foundation’s Lane Rettig pointed out that distinguishing between different types of stablecoins could be a better regulatory approach.

Why it matters: While this is neutral for NEAR in the short term, it could be beneficial if NEAR’s regulatory framework becomes a model for compliant stablecoin use. Clear rules might encourage more institutional projects to build on NEAR’s platform. (CoinMarketCap)

Conclusion

NEAR Protocol is making strides in cross-chain technology through partnerships like THORWallet and by growing its Intents platform. At the same time, it’s actively involved in shaping regulatory discussions. With AI-driven tools and increasing interest from institutions, the question remains: can NEAR maintain its recent 47% weekly price jump as the altcoin market recovers?

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What is expected in the development of NEAR?

NEAR Protocol’s upcoming plans focus on expanding cross-chain capabilities, integrating artificial intelligence (AI), and upgrading its core technology.

1. Dynamic Sharding Expansion (Q4 2025) – Increasing the number of shards to over 10 to handle more transactions at once.
2. NEAR Intents Global Rollout (2026) – Enabling cross-chain swaps for more than 150 different digital assets.
3. AI Governance Pilot (Q1 2026) – Testing AI-powered voting agents to help make decisions on the network.

Deep Dive

1. Dynamic Sharding Expansion (Q4 2025)

Overview:
NEAR plans to increase its shard count from 9 to over 10 by the end of 2025. Shards are like separate lanes on a highway that allow more cars (transactions) to travel simultaneously. This upgrade aims to boost transaction speed to over 100,000 transactions per second (TPS). This follows a recent improvement called stateless validation, which lowered the hardware needs for network validators by 40% (NEARWEEK).

What this means:
This upgrade is positive for NEAR because better scalability can attract decentralized finance (DeFi) apps and AI-powered applications that need fast processing. However, coordinating validators and ensuring security during this expansion could be challenging.

2. NEAR Intents Global Rollout (2026)

Overview:
NEAR Intents is a feature that allows users to swap digital assets across different blockchains without using traditional bridges, which can be slow or risky. In October 2025, it handled over $3 billion in transactions. In 2026, NEAR plans to add support for Litecoin, Monero, and eight other blockchains, aiming to support over 150 assets in total (NullTX).

What this means:
This development is somewhat positive. Expanding cross-chain swaps strengthens NEAR’s role as a hub connecting different blockchain networks. However, competition from other projects like LayerZero and Chainlink CCIP may limit how much NEAR can grow in this area.

3. AI Governance Pilot (Q1 2026)

Overview:
The "House of Stake" project will test AI delegates that can vote on governance proposals using NEAR’s Shade Agent framework. These AI agents will review proposals and vote based on user-set preferences, aiming to speed up and improve decision-making (TTT Insights).

What this means:
This is cautiously optimistic. AI could make governance faster and more objective, but relying too much on algorithms might raise concerns about centralization. Transparency about how these AI agents are trained will be key to gaining trust.

Conclusion

NEAR’s roadmap combines technical improvements (like sharding), ecosystem growth (through NEAR Intents), and innovative AI integration. These efforts support NEAR’s goal of becoming an "AI-native Layer 1" blockchain. Still, challenges remain, especially in keeping the network decentralized while scaling quickly.

Could NEAR’s focus on AI-powered cross-chain tools make it a central player in Web3’s future automated economy? Only time will tell.

What updates are there in the NEAR code base?

NEAR Protocol’s latest updates focus on improving scalability, enabling cross-chain connections, and making developer tools easier to use.

1. Halving Upgrade (October 31, 2025) – Cuts annual token inflation from 5% to 2.5% to support a healthier economy.
2. Resharding V3 (March 2025) – Boosts scalability by increasing the number of shards and improving data flow between them.
3. House of Stake Launch (October 31, 2025) – Introduces AI-powered governance and new tools for validators.

Deep Dive

1. Halving Upgrade (October 31, 2025)

What happened: NEAR reduced its yearly token inflation rate from 5% to 2.5%, a change approved by over 80% of network validators. This helps balance rewards for those securing the network while lowering the number of new tokens entering circulation.

Why it matters: Lower inflation means fewer new tokens flooding the market, which can increase the value of existing tokens and encourage more people to stake their NEAR tokens. This is generally seen as a positive move for the network’s long-term health. (Source)

2. Resharding V3 (March 2025)

What happened: With the Nearcore v2.5.0 update, NEAR increased its number of shards from 6 to 8 and added a scheduler to better manage data flow between shards.

Why it matters: More shards mean the network can process more transactions at once, improving speed and capacity for decentralized apps. However, validators now need more powerful hardware (64GB RAM during transitions) to handle the extra data. This is a short-term cost for long-term gains. (Source)

3. House of Stake Launch (October 31, 2025)

What happened: NEAR introduced AI-powered tools to help manage decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), including automated proposal reviews and resource management. Meta Pool’s Node Studio Cohort 2 made it easier for new validators to join, offering incentives totaling 2.52 million NEAR tokens. The update also added Shade Agents, which enable AI-driven smart contracts that can be independently verified.

Why it matters: AI-driven governance can speed up decision-making and attract developers interested in building self-managing decentralized apps, which is a big plus for NEAR’s ecosystem growth. (Source)

4. Developer Docs Overhaul (October 31, 2025)

What happened: NEAR revamped its developer documentation to provide a clearer, unified guide for building on the platform. This includes better support for cross-chain functionality through Intents, and improved resources for Rust and JavaScript smart contracts, multi-chain access via Chain Signatures, and NEAR-EVM compatibility.

Why it matters: Easier-to-understand documentation lowers the barrier for new developers, encouraging more projects and innovation on NEAR. This helps the network grow its developer community.

Conclusion

NEAR Protocol’s recent updates focus on making the network faster and more scalable (Resharding V3), creating a sustainable economic model (Halving Upgrade), and improving developer experience (docs overhaul). The addition of AI in governance and infrastructure points to a future where NEAR supports autonomous, multi-chain applications.

Looking ahead, how will NEAR’s emphasis on AI and sharding shape its competition with platforms like Solana and Ethereum in 2026?