NEAR Protocol Faces Heavy Institutional Selling, Recovers Slightly Amid Ongoing Volatility
ChatGPT said: NEAR Protocol swung between $2.78 and $3.05 as nearly 20 million tokens changed hands during peak sell pressure, before buyers stepped in to lift prices back toward $2.82.

What to know:
- NEAR traded between $2.78 and $3.05 in the 24 hours ending Aug. 14, with peak institutional sell volumes of 19.99M and 12.22M tokens driving a drop to $2.75 before recovering to $2.82.
- In the following hour, the token gained 0.35% to $2.83, trading within a $0.07 band and breaching short-term resistance at $2.83–$2.84, with preliminary support emerging near $2.81–$2.82.
NEAR Protocol saw heightened volatility in the 24 hours ending August 14 at 14:00 UTC, with prices fluctuating between $2.78 and $3.05 before settling at $2.82.
The decline from the $3.05 resistance to $2.75 support was driven by heavy institutional selling, totaling nearly 20 million tokens during peak pressure. Despite this, the asset’s fundamentals remain strong, supported by a sizable active user base of 16 million weekly participants.
In the hour following the selloff, NEAR gained 0.35% to $2.83, trading within a controlled $0.07 range between $2.81 and $2.85. Key institutional buying appeared at several intervals, helping the token breach short-term resistance at $2.83–$2.84 and reach session highs of $2.85.
Trading volume eased to roughly 100,000 tokens per minute, suggesting accumulation rather than speculative retail activity, with preliminary support forming near $2.81–$2.82.

Market Performance Indicators Reflect Mixed Corporate Outlook
- NEAR Protocol recorded substantial price volatility with a $0.26 trading range representing 8.53% movement between the session high of $3.05 and low of $2.78.
- The cryptocurrency initially demonstrated upward momentum from $2.90 to reach $3.05 during evening trading hours, establishing technical resistance at the $3.04-$3.05 level.
- Significant institutional selling occurred during August 14 between 12:00-13:00 UTC with exceptional trading volumes of 19.99 million and 12.22 million tokens respectively.
- Daily trading activity substantially exceeded the 24-hour average of 5.47 million tokens, reflecting heightened institutional selling pressure.
- Market price declined to $2.75 before corporate buying interest supported a recovery to $2.82 at session close.
- High-volume institutional selling patterns suggest potential continued downside risk despite modest recovery attempts, according to market strategists.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
More For You
KuCoin Hits Record Market Share as 2025 Volumes Outpace Crypto Market

KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Bitcoin hash rate slides during U.S. winter storm while markets shrug off mining disruption

The temporary loss of mining power underscores academic concerns that geographic and pool concentration can magnify infrastructure failures, though markets showed little immediate reaction.
What to know:
- Bitcoin’s hashrate fell about 10 percent during a U.S. winter storm, underscoring how local power disruptions can strain the network’s capacity to process transactions.
- Researchers have shown that concentrated mining, as seen in a 2021 regional outage in China, can lead to slower block times, higher fees and broader market disruptions.
- With a few large pools now controlling most of Bitcoin’s hashrate, the network is increasingly vulnerable to localized infrastructure failures, even as the price of BTC remains largely unaffected in the short term.











