NEAR Protocol Slides 9.8% as $9.9M Liquidations Hit Longs
NEAR Protocol dropped 9.8% to $4.871 as 24-hour derivatives liquidations reached $9.9M, including $8.5M from long positions versus $1.4M from shorts. At the same time, aggregate open interest fell 3.9% to about $1.406B, creating a clear drawdown profile: leveraged longs were being forced out while fresh trading volume increased 7.8%. Recent market coverage has pointed to a broader altcoin rally and shifting exchange flows, but NEAR’s derivatives tape is showing stress rather than clean upside follow-through.
Open interest is contracting unevenly
The exchange distribution gives the drawdown more texture. Binance holds the largest reported position at $266.6M, or 19.0% of the tracked total, after a 4.9% 24-hour decline. Gate follows with $244.0M and a 17.4% share, down 3.2%, while Bybit holds $184.3M, or 13.1%, after an 8.0% fall. Bitget contributes $74.7M, representing 5.3%, and declined 6.8%.
The short-term changes are especially important. Binance open interest fell 2.6% over the latest four-hour window, Gate dropped 5.4%, and Bitget declined 3.9%. Bybit was the exception, adding 5.8% over four hours despite its larger 24-hour contraction. OKX, with $59.1M and a 4.2% share, posted the sharpest 24-hour decline among the main venues at 11.1%. This looks more like a broad deleveraging event than a single-exchange liquidation anomaly, although Bybit’s rebound leaves one pocket where positioning is rebuilding.
Funding is positive, but selling dominates execution
The funding rate average is only 0.0004% on the eight-hour measure, yet venue-level rates are widely dispersed. Binance is at 0.0030%, Gate at 0.0008%, and OKX is negative at -0.0022%. Bybit and Bitget both show 0.0100%, while CoinEx is deeply negative at -0.0795%. That split suggests the market is not carrying one uniform leverage premium: some venues still charge longs, while others are already pricing defensive or short-heavy positioning.
Positioning confirms the divide. The aggregate account reading is 61.8% long, but active taker flow is only 44.2% long. On Binance, accounts are 62.0% long while takers are 30.9% long; Gate shows 55.5% long accounts against only 28.4% long takers. In practical terms, many traders still hold long exposure, but the orders actually crossing the market are materially more sell-oriented. That account-versus-execution divergence is bearish for a fragile rebound because passive long positioning can become the next source of forced supply.
Liquidation levels define the risk map
The liquidation sequence is heavily skewed toward longs across every available window. In the latest four hours, long liquidations reached $5.0M versus $397.5K for shorts, out of $5.4M total. Over 12 hours, longs contributed $7.8M against $836.0K for shorts. The one-hour window was smaller at $82.2K, but even there longs accounted for $69.1K.
The largest recorded long liquidation was $420.3K on Binance at $4.733. OKX then recorded $373.0K at $4.973 and another $365.3K at $4.871. A $214.6K Hyperliquid long liquidation printed at $4.937. These levels show that the selloff has already reached the current price zone, but the $4.733 Binance level remains the clearest downside reference if another liquidation wave develops.
Verdict: The immediate bias remains bearish while NEAR trades below $4.973, with falling open interest and $1.406B as the key positioning baseline. A move toward $4.733 would signal that long liquidation pressure is still active; the view is invalidated only if NEAR reclaims $4.973 while aggregate open interest expands above $1.406B. Data as of 01:05 Beijing time on Oct 2, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.