NEAR Loses 20% of its Value as Crypto Market Sell-off Continues

NEAR is the biggest loser amongst the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, with the broader market losing another $100 billion over the weekend.

The Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap is Now Below $1.6 Trillion

The NEAR Protocol is a decentralized application (dApp) platform designed to make the dApps similarly usable to those on today’s web. The protocol runs on a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism called Nightshade. This PoS mechanism aims to provide dynamic scalability and stabilizes fees.

NEAR, the native token of the NEAR protocol, is the worst performer amongst the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Over the past 24 hours, NEAR has lost more than 20% of its value and is currently trading at $9.76 per coin.

There is no major catalyst behind NEAR’s current losses except the broader cryptocurrency market experiencing another major sell-off. The broader cryptocurrency market has lost roughly $100 billion over the weekend, with the total market cap now above $1.5 trillion.

Bitcoin was unable to defend its price above $35k and is currently trading around $33k per coin. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is down by 10% in the last 24 hours and is currently trading at $2,264.

NEAR Rallied Earlier this Year

NEAR has lost nearly 50% of its value over the past seven days, which is higher than the other cryptocurrencies in the top 100. The ongoing bearish performance comes after NEAR reached a new all-time high earlier this year.

On January 4, NEAR rallied past the $16 mark following a high demand for NFT-related projects. NEAR went on to reach an all-time high of $17.60 on the same day. NEAR embarked on a similar rally on January 11, after it was listed as the third-fastest growing crypto ecosystem for developers in 2021 by Forbes.

NEAR is currently trading below its 50-day moving average of $13.28. The MACD line has dropped into the negative zone due to the ongoing poor performance. The RSI of 33 shows that NEAR is currently in the oversold region.