Near Protocol (NEAR) has dropped by over 45% from its June highs of around $3 and may decline further as traders attempt to reach a dense liquidation cluster sitting just 5% under the current price.
As of Thursday, Aug. 6, NEAR was trading near $1.72. A decline of roughly 5%–6% toward $1.62 could trigger approximately $4.58 million in cumulative long liquidations on Binance, according to monthly liquidation heatmap data provided by CoinGlass.
The heatmap shows a prominent concentration of leveraged long positions around $1.6232. Such clusters can act as short-term price magnets because a move into the region may force exchanges to close leveraged bullish positions automatically.
Forced liquidations can then create additional market sell orders, potentially accelerating the decline toward the psychological $1.60 support level.
NEAR’s funding rate was also slightly negative at around -0.0073%, indicating that perpetual futures traders were leaning bearish. However, positioning remains uneven.
The heatmap shows approximately $25.59 million in cumulative short liquidations, compared with $7.91 million in cumulative long liquidations. The more than threefold imbalance means NEAR could still squeeze higher before pursuing the liquidity below.
NEAR is simultaneously trading near the upper trendline of a falling wedge on its daily chart. The pattern has developed through a sequence of converging lower highs and lower lows since the token peaked near $2.80 in June.
Falling wedges are generally considered bullish reversal patterns, but they require a decisive breakout above descending resistance for confirmation.
NEAR must reclaim the wedge’s upper boundary and its 20-day exponential moving average near $1.77. It would then face additional resistance from the 200-day, 100-day, and 50-day EMAs clustered between roughly $1.81 and $1.85.
Failure to overcome this resistance zone would leave NEAR vulnerable to a pullback toward $1.62, potentially wiping out the highlighted $4.58 million in leveraged long exposure.
Conversely, a confirmed wedge breakout could trigger short liquidations and open the path toward $2.00–$2.14.
Yashu Gola is a crypto journalist and analyst with expertise in digital assets, blockchain, and macroeconomics. He provides in-depth market analysis, technical chart patterns, and insights on global economic impacts. His work bridges traditional finance and crypto, offering actionable advice and educational content. Passionate about blockchain's role in finance, he studies behavioral finance to predict memecoin trends.