NEAR Protocol OI Purge: $1.27B Open Interest Falls 18.3% Today
NEAR Protocol is at $4.637, while aggregate open interest has dropped 18.3% in 24 hours to $1.27B. That is the defining signal in this hotspot: price weakness is arriving alongside a large derivatives contraction, suggesting a leverage purge rather than fresh short conviction alone. Recent coverage has emphasized NEAR's strong altcoin momentum and debate over whether the move can extend.
Where the OI purge is concentrated
Binance remains the largest visible venue with $249.2M of NEAR open interest and a 19.7% share, down 9.7% over 24 hours. Gate holds $188.9M, or 14.9%, after a 14.2% decline, while Bybit has $175.4M and a 13.8% share after the sharpest contraction among the major top venues at 25.8%. OKX is smaller at $53.8M and 4.3% of the total, but its 23.9% daily drop reinforces the broad nature of the purge.
The intraday direction is still negative at several important venues. Bybit's open interest fell 3.1% over the latest four-hour window, OKX dropped 4.5%, and Bitget declined 3.8%. Binance was the exception among the largest balances, edging up 0.1% over that window. This mix matters: the market is not rebuilding leverage evenly; instead, the deepest contraction is occurring where directional positioning had accumulated most aggressively.
Long liquidations are doing the damage
The liquidation structure is decisively asymmetric. Over 24 hours, NEAR recorded $20.3M in long liquidations against only $0.7M in shorts, for a $21.1M total. The same pattern intensified in the shorter windows: the four-hour total reached $3.5M, with $3.4M from longs and $0.1M from shorts; over 12 hours, longs contributed $10.1M versus $0.3M from shorts.
The largest individual liquidations also came from long positions on Hyperliquid, including a $2.9M event at $4.89910411 and a $1.7M event at $4.70360918. Those levels show that leverage was not merely being removed at the current price. Longs positioned above the market were forced out as the decline moved through higher liquidation zones, creating a cascade that can suppress price even after the first wave of selling has passed.
Positioning is bullish, but takers are less convinced
Account positioning still leans long. Binance accounts are 61.5% long, Bybit accounts are 64.5% long, Bitget accounts are 68.6% long, and Gate accounts are 58.0% long. The aggregate account reading is 62.8% long. However, the long/short ratio among active takers is less one-sided: Binance takers are 57.8% long, while OKX takers are only 53.5% long. Gate is the exception, with takers at 68.3% long.
This account-versus-taker split is important for the purge thesis. Existing accounts remain positioned for a rebound, but the traders actually crossing the spread are much closer to balance on Binance and OKX. The market therefore has residual long inventory without equivalent aggressive buying pressure. Funding does not yet show a broad bearish repricing either: Binance, Bybit, OKX, Gate and Bitget each display 0.0% after one-decimal formatting, while CoinEx is -0.1%. The absence of strongly negative funding means the liquidation wave, not a crowded short trade, is the dominant driver.
Verdict: The immediate pivot is $4.64 against roughly $1.27B of open interest. A recovery above the major liquidation level at $4.89910411, accompanied by open interest rebuilding above $1.267B rather than merely price rising on thinner leverage, would invalidate the OI-purge view and signal renewed long demand. Until that confirmation appears, the cleaner interpretation is a long-heavy deleveraging event with residual downside pressure. Data as of 13:10 Beijing time on Sep 29, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.