The whole market is counting down to the unlock and waiting for a sell-off, yet $NEAR is up 12% in 24 hours.
The bearish script is ready, but the actors aren’t playing along—so what exactly is this money buying?
Let’s look at the data first:
NEAR is trading at around $5.90, up 12% in 24 hours, 20% in 7 days, and nearly 150% in 30 days.
Its market cap is about $7 billion, putting it back in the top 20.
Around $6.5 million in short positions were liquidated in 24 hours, while futures open interest climbed to $1.95 billion—short sellers are being forced to buy back.
Four independent signals paint a picture:
1) The quantum upgrade is nearing mainnet. nearcore 2.13 introduces quantum-resistant account keys (ML-DSA-65 signatures), with the mainnet launch imminent. This is a technical catalyst that NEAR’s story hasn’t seen in a long time.
2) There’s real on-chain revenue. NEAR Intents posted a record $4.8 billion in swap volume in September, up 73% month over month, with cumulative volume exceeding $33 billion. A portion of the fees goes directly toward buying back NEAR on the open market. This rally isn’t just about sentiment—it’s about expectations for cash flow.
3) A regulated investment channel has opened. Bitwise’s NEAR spot ETF (NRR) launched on September 29 and attracted about $58.9 million in its first week. Previously, buying NEAR meant opening an exchange account; now it can be bought through a brokerage account.
4) Tokenomics may tighten. The community is discussing lowering the annual issuance cap from 2.5% to 1.6%, which would mean about 66 million fewer tokens issued over six years.
Here’s my take: this rally isn’t driven by a single headline. It’s a combination of three factors: “real revenue + regulated access + a compelling tech narrative.” The counterintuitive part is that while everyone is calculating the sell pressure from the unlock, capital is instead pricing in an “L1 with cash flow.” But let’s stay grounded: $5.97 is a firm weekly-chart resistance level, and analysts are watching to see whether the weekly close can hold above it. Until it does, chasing the price higher is like handing liquidity to short sellers. U.S. CPI on October 14 is the next macro variable; if the reading comes in hotter than expected, high-beta altcoins will be among the first to take a hit.
Data as of: 2026-10-12 10:45 UTC
Sources: CoinStats; Crypto.news; TradersUnion; TradingView
For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.
I’ll continue tracking data like this—follow me to stay in the loop.
Do you think NEAR can break above $6 this time?
#NEAR
The bearish script is ready, but the actors aren’t playing along—so what exactly is this money buying?
Let’s look at the data first:
NEAR is trading at around $5.90, up 12% in 24 hours, 20% in 7 days, and nearly 150% in 30 days.
Its market cap is about $7 billion, putting it back in the top 20.
Around $6.5 million in short positions were liquidated in 24 hours, while futures open interest climbed to $1.95 billion—short sellers are being forced to buy back.
Four independent signals paint a picture:
1) The quantum upgrade is nearing mainnet. nearcore 2.13 introduces quantum-resistant account keys (ML-DSA-65 signatures), with the mainnet launch imminent. This is a technical catalyst that NEAR’s story hasn’t seen in a long time.
2) There’s real on-chain revenue. NEAR Intents posted a record $4.8 billion in swap volume in September, up 73% month over month, with cumulative volume exceeding $33 billion. A portion of the fees goes directly toward buying back NEAR on the open market. This rally isn’t just about sentiment—it’s about expectations for cash flow.
3) A regulated investment channel has opened. Bitwise’s NEAR spot ETF (NRR) launched on September 29 and attracted about $58.9 million in its first week. Previously, buying NEAR meant opening an exchange account; now it can be bought through a brokerage account.
4) Tokenomics may tighten. The community is discussing lowering the annual issuance cap from 2.5% to 1.6%, which would mean about 66 million fewer tokens issued over six years.
Here’s my take: this rally isn’t driven by a single headline. It’s a combination of three factors: “real revenue + regulated access + a compelling tech narrative.” The counterintuitive part is that while everyone is calculating the sell pressure from the unlock, capital is instead pricing in an “L1 with cash flow.” But let’s stay grounded: $5.97 is a firm weekly-chart resistance level, and analysts are watching to see whether the weekly close can hold above it. Until it does, chasing the price higher is like handing liquidity to short sellers. U.S. CPI on October 14 is the next macro variable; if the reading comes in hotter than expected, high-beta altcoins will be among the first to take a hit.
Data as of: 2026-10-12 10:45 UTC
Sources: CoinStats; Crypto.news; TradersUnion; TradingView
For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.
I’ll continue tracking data like this—follow me to stay in the loop.
Do you think NEAR can break above $6 this time?
#NEAR