NEAR is getting hammered. The token is under aggressive selling pressure that's pushing it toward a key support level at $1.43. While short-term traders bail, a different crowd — investors often called smart money — is quietly buying up tokens, betting the selloff is temporary.
Why $1.43 matters
That price isn't arbitrary. It's the next major floor beneath current trading levels, and if it breaks, there's not much underneath to catch the fall. The selling has been relentless enough that analysts are watching that line closely. A drop below could trigger another wave of liquidations. But so far, $1.43 has held — barely.
Smart money doesn't care about the noise
While retail traders panic, wallet addresses associated with large holders and institutional players are accumulating. The facts show smart money is actively adding NEAR positions despite the headwinds. That's a classic divergence: price drops, but the people who tend to be early on big moves are loading up. They're not betting on a quick bounce; they're betting on the story playing out over months, not days.
What the forecasts say
Two numbers stand out. By the end of this year, analysts project a price floor of $3.70 for NEAR — more than double where it's trading now. That's not a moon shot; it's a recovery to levels the token has seen before. Further out, MEXC has published a forecast range of $3.70 to $11.80 by 2026. The high end implies a gain of 150% or more from current prices.
Those aren't guarantees — crypto forecasts are notoriously volatile — but they show that at least one major exchange sees long-term upside. The spread between $3.70 and $11.80 is wide, reflecting the uncertainty in the market. Still, the bottom of that range matches the year-end floor, suggesting a consensus on where value should settle if the market stabilizes.
What happens next
The immediate question is whether $1.42 — the actual number a fraction below the round support — gets tested. If it does, and if smart money continues buying, we could see a sharp reversal. If the selling overwhelms the accumulation, NEAR could drift lower before finding a new base. The next few trading sessions will tell which side wins. No one's calling a bottom yet, but the smart money is placing its bet.
