NEAR Protocol Recovers $3.8M After Exploit, Rises 6%
NEAR Protocol (NEAR)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
dmarketforces.com reports that NEAR Protocol rose 6.10% to $4.97 on Sunday, outperforming the flat broader market. This gain was driven by capital rotation into high-momentum assets rather than following Bitcoin's modest 0.53% increase. The move occurred after NEAR Intents fully recovered $3.8 million stolen in an October 1 exploit.
General manager Alex Shevchenko identified the attacker and issued a 48-hour deadline before funds were returned with an on-chain apology. The incident was contained to a bug in the Omni deposit layer, with the team pledging full user compensation. Traders noted that money flowed into high-beta narratives like AI and cross-chain infrastructure.
The Altcoin Season Index rose 5.17% to 61, signaling capital moving from Bitcoin into smaller altcoins. NEAR’s price action had paused after a parabolic rally from $1.80 to $5.40 in September. Technical structure confirms an uptrend, with resistance at the 127.2% extension near $5.08 and support at $4.61. A governance vote to cut max issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% could reprice scarcity.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for NEAR, measured when this story was written up on 4 October 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
Whalio spot data shows NEAR trading at $4.83 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 48.9% and a 4-hour buy ratio of 56.6%. The 24-hour buy ratio stands at 51.5%, indicating that buying pressure is building over the longer timeframe compared to the immediate hour. The 1-hour volume delta is -$65,497, suggesting short-term selling, while the 4-hour delta is +$2,969,282 and the 24-hour delta is +$2,166,850. This positive delta over 4 and 24 hours means net buying volume exceeds net selling volume, confirming accumulation. The Cumulative Volume Delta closed at +$7,489,592, showing sustained aggressive buying over the day. Spot volume reached $72,232,865 across 289,079 trades.
The latest daily buy ratio of 50.8% sits at the 68th percentile of the last 323 days, against a median of 49.7% - ordinary for this coin.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for NEAR, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the 7-day average buy ratio was 48.3%, making today's 24-hour ratio of 51.5% an unusual day with 3.2 points higher buying interest. Volume was 0.36x the average, indicating significantly lower trading activity compared to the norm. The weekly volume delta was -$47,736,139, contrasting with today's positive 24-hour delta. Price fell 4.1% over eight days, despite this single day of net buying. Only one of the seven days saw net buying, highlighting the rarity of this recent activity.