Near Protocol token crashed to its lowest level in 12 months and formed a death cross pattern, signaling further downside.
Near (NEAR), a layer-1 cryptocurrency valued at $3.7 billion, declined even after developers announced major news on Thursday.
They launched a new $20 million AI Agent Fund that will invest in projects in the artificial intelligence industry. The funds will be deployed in the next few months and will target developers who push boundaries in the AI agent industry. The fund targets experiments in areas like Real World Asset tokenization, gaming, and AI oracles.
AI agents have become popular in the technology and crypto industry in the past few months. For example, Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), a popular AI generator, has achieved a market cap of over $1 billion. Some AI agents in the ecosystem like GAME, aixbt, Vader AI, and Acolyte have attained a multi-million dollar valuation.
Near Protocol has made additional investments in AI. It is currently running the One Trillion Agents hackathon, an initiative designed to help developers build and scale AI projects on the Near network.
Near crypto also retreated as the total value locked in its DeFi ecosystem continued falling. The network has a TVL of $170 million, down from last year’s high of over $393 million. Burrow, Linear Protocol, Meta Pool Near, and Ref Finance are the biggest players in its ecosystem.
Near crypto price forecast
The daily chart suggests Near could face further weakness in the coming days. It formed a triple-top pattern around the $8.255 level, a bearish formation characterized by three peaks and a neckline, which in this case is at $3.10. Near briefly moved below this neckline earlier in the week.
The token has also formed a death cross pattern, where the 50-day and 200-day moving averages have crossed, a historically bearish signal in technical analysis.
Additionally, the Average Directional Index, which measures trend strength, has risen to near 40. A reading above 20 typically indicates a strengthening trend.
As a result, Near is likely to continue declining, with sellers targeting the next key support level at $2.40, its lowest swing since January last year.
