The NEAR price is sitting in an area that many traders are starting to pay closer attention to. According to Michaël van de Poppe, the current price action feels very similar to late 2019, a period marked by extreme skepticism and a general belief that tokens had little real value.
On the chart, NEAR is now trading near its lowest valuation since October 10 and November 23, levels that historically have acted more like base zones than breakdown points. The downtrend has been clear over the past few months, but the selling pressure is no longer accelerating.
The NEAR price is hovering around the $1.65–$1.70 range, and the volume spikes around these lows indicate there is active interest at these levels. That often happens when sentiment is negative, but longer-term participants begin stepping in quietly.
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The Market Mood Feels Uncomfortably Familiar
Van De Poppe draws attention to how the current tone is virtually the same as what traders were expressing toward the end of 2019:
In those days, it was generally thought that tokens served no purpose, that the whole market had ended. That same tone has crept back in recently, with critics questioning whether utility-driven blockchains still matter.
What makes this interesting is that NEAR’s fundamentals have not followed price lower. While the chart shows weakness, the ecosystem itself has continued to grow.
This gap between price and fundamentals is exactly what van de Poppe refers to as mispricing, and history shows that markets rarely ignore that kind of divergence for very long.
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NEAR Intents Is Quietly Gaining Traction
A big part of the bullish case comes from NEAR Intents. In recent months, this sector of the ecosystem has been growing at an exponential rate. Such growth is a sign that real adoption is now taking hold, yet pricing remains problematic.
This is where sentiment and reality often collide. When adoption keeps improving during a price decline, it usually does not stay unnoticed forever. Once sentiment starts to shift, price tends to react quickly.
The NEAR Price Levels That Matter From Here
From a technical point of view, van de Poppe highlights $1.80 as the first level that really matters. Reclaiming it would be an early sign that buyers are regaining control.
A stronger signal would come from a move back above $2.00, which previously acted as support before turning into resistance.
If NEAR can reclaim that zone, the structure of the chart starts to look very different. In that
scenario, van de Poppe would not be surprised to see the NEAR price trade back toward $3 in Q1 of 2026.
What’s Next for NEAR?
NEAR is still under pressure, but the mix of depressed sentiment, improving ecosystem activity, and clearly defined technical levels is hard to ignore.
If the market environment improves and those key levels are reclaimed, this price range may eventually be seen as accumulation rather than another leg lower.
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