NEAR Protocol has climbed from around $1.80 in early September to above $5, driven by a new spot ETF listing and growing attention to its AI-agent ecosystem. The token's technical indicators now look stretched after the advance, with the $4.60-$4.70 zone marked as key support.
NEAR jumped from around $1.80 in early September to above $5, making it one of the strongest-performing major altcoins of the period. The token moved from about $2.62 on Sept. 16 to $4.60 by Sept. 24, then extended the advance into $5.55 on Sept. 27 before closing Sept. 30 at about $5.34 — a gain of more than 100% in roughly two weeks.
Derivatives activity climbed alongside the price. Santiment data showed NEAR gained about 81% between Sept. 13 and Sept. 20, while dollar-denominated open interest rose 119%. Open interest measured in NEAR tokens, however, increased by only about 21%, suggesting the dollar-value jump outpaced any equivalent expansion in underlying positions. Funding rates reached roughly 1.6 times their two-month median during September, and Santiment said leverage had become increasingly important to the rally.
Two catalysts reinforced the move. NEAR spot trading went live on Hyperliquid on Sept. 22-23. NEAR perpetual open interest on the platform stood at approximately $344 million at the time. Then, on Sept. 29, Bitwise launched its first U.S. spot NEAR ETF on NYSE Arca under the ticker NRR. The fund holds NEAR directly and stakes the tokens for an annual fee of 0.75%. By Oct. 6, the fund had reportedly attracted about $58 million during its first week.
AI agent narrative underpins the bull case
A Bitwise research report accompanying the ETF launch outlined a maximum-case estimate of $562.81 for NEAR by 2030, authored by Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan and Head of European Research André Dragosch. That projection assumes NEAR could capture about 3% of the global AI agent market, roughly 950 million agents, applying a 50-times price-to-sales multiple modeled on SaaS valuations.
The network has also pushed its AI-agent infrastructure forward. NEAR AI expanded its confidential-inference platform through an integration with OpenRouter on Sept. 28. NEAR One also introduced the SPICE architecture on Sept. 30, proposing a redesign that separates transaction execution from consensus to improve scalability.
Technicals show a stretched rally
The advance has left NEAR's chart extended. After briefly touching the $5.50-$5.55 area, the token pulled back toward $4.70-$5.00; as of Oct. 6 it traded around $5.16-$5.27, with its weekly RSI near 75. Its moving averages sit well below current levels: the 50-day average near $2.90, the 100-day near $2.40 and the 200-day near $2.10. RSI briefly approached 85 before the pullback, a reading that points to strong momentum but also raises the risk of a deeper retracement.
For now, the $4.60-$4.70 area is the key support zone. Holding above it could let NEAR build a higher base before another attempt at $5.00 and the $5.40-$5.60 resistance area. A sustained break below that support, however, could raise the odds of a deeper correction after September's advance.
Source: U.Today (opinion)
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