NEAR Protocol Forecast: Why is the bearish slide continuing despite House of Stake issuance cut approval?

• Selling pressure keeps NEAR Protocol below $4 on Tuesday, extending the previous day’s 10% fall.
• A proposal to cut annual issuance wins approval from House of Stake, NEAR’s decentralised on-chain governance body.
• Mounting selling pressure leaves NEAR’s technical outlook tilted to the downside.

Sellers retain control of NEAR Protocol (NEAR), which trades below $4 on Tuesday after losing 10% the previous day and recording three consecutive weekly declines. On Monday, House of Stake, NEAR’s decentralised on-chain governance body, approved a reduction in annual issuance to lower long-term inflation and supply growth. With momentum favouring sellers, the technical outlook points to further losses for NEAR.

How will NEAR Protocol strengthen its tokenomics?

Maximum annual token issuance will be phased down from 2.5% to 1.6% over 24 months under the HSP-029 proposal approved by House of Stake, NEAR Protocol’s governing body. Before implementation, the process will involve a Security Council review, a 90-day grace period and a protocol upgrade for validators. The approved change will reduce long-term inflation and supply growth programmatically.

Is retail demand picking up again?

Following a modest contraction, retail interest in NEAR Protocol is showing signs of recovery. On Tuesday, NEAR futures Open Interest stood at 266.81 million NEAR tokens, compared with 246.27 million the previous day, according to CoinGlass data. This jump signals a sharp revival in fresh position-building, challenging the broader decline from the 25 October high of 302.69 million NEAR tokens. However, rising OI alongside a falling spot price suggests traders expect further volatility.

Technical outlook: Can NEAR avoid further losses?

A bearish reversal is evident on NEAR’s four-hour chart as the token trades at $3.8270 at the time of writing on Tuesday. A clear bearish bias remains in place, with the price below the 50-period Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $4.3677 and the 200-period EMA at $4.5235. The 50-period EMA has also crossed below the 200-period EMA, reinforcing the bearish shift in the near-term trend.

Two closely spaced, parallel trendlines contain NEAR’s decline within a falling channel on the same chart. As the price nears the channel’s lower boundary around $3.7303, that trendline guards against a further drop towards horizontal support at $3.4030, established by the 19 September low.

Indicators also point to weak momentum. On the four-hour chart, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is hovering around 26 in oversold territory, while the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) remains deeply negative, suggesting that downside pressure is dominant.

If the supporting trendline triggers a rebound, NEAR could test former support at $3.9160, now acting as resistance, before approaching $4.3010.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)