NEAR Protocol price falls 8% to $4.91 over 24 hours on Thursday. As a result, it underperformed the broader crypto market. The drop followed a $3.8 million exploit at NEAR Intents. Consequently, that incident temporarily halted services.
Why NEAR Protocol price falls today
NEAR fell 7% in 10 minutes after the incident became public. Specifically, this interrupted a strong rally. For example, NEAR had gained 148% over the prior 30 days. Meanwhile, Bitwise launched its first U.S. spot NEAR ETF on September 29. In addition, that expanded access through brokerage accounts. At the same time, Bitcoin climbed above $84,000. Similarly, Ethereum hovered above $2,700. Meanwhile, XRP traded around $1.48.
NEAR Intents pauses services after $3.8M loss
NEAR Intents said engineers found a flaw in Omni infrastructure. Specifically, that infrastructure handles deposits and withdrawals. Moreover, the bug affected its interaction with the smart contract. Therefore, operations paused while developers investigated. Additionally, the team estimated losses at about $3.8 million. Furthermore, it pledged to reimburse all affected assets.
After that, the team deployed a patch. Consequently, it projected restoration within roughly one hour. However, that estimate covered NEAR Intents and near.com. Meanwhile, Omni repairs required extra time. As a result, deposits and withdrawals across eleven networks stayed suspended. The team expected that pause to last about twelve more hours. Those networks include BSC, Polygon, TON, and Optimism. They also include Avalanche, Stellar, Monad, and X Layer. In addition, the list includes ADI, Scroll, and Plasma.
Meanwhile, users holding tokens from those networks could still exchange them. For example, this applied after core services resumed. Similarly, it applied to assets through HOT Wallet or near.com. In addition, the project notified law enforcement. It also engaged security specialists and blockchain analytics partners. Consequently, investigators are tracing the stolen funds. Finally, the team plans a detailed account in coming days.
Will NEAR Protocol price face more downside?
The 4-hour market placed NEAR price at $4.905. Meanwhile, the latest candle recorded a 4.07% decline. As a result, the move below $5.00 leaves that former support as the first barrier. The RSI measured 45.05. Specifically, that is below the neutral midpoint of 50. The MACD line stood at 0.079. In contrast, it trailed the signal line at 0.093. Meanwhile, the histogram read -0.015. Consequently, that bearish setup suggests weakening momentum. However, both indicator lines remain above zero.
Traders may retest resistance near $5.50. Specifically, this could happen if NEAR sustains a 4-hour close above $5.00. Support sits near $4.50. Meanwhile, that is the lower end of the recent range. A decisive break below could expose the prior breakout near $4.00.
Key levels to watch
Traders should watch $5.00 first. A close above it opens $5.50. A failure keeps pressure on $4.50. A break below $4.50 exposes $4.00. Therefore, the next move depends on those levels.
