NEAR, the native token of Near Protocol, has risen by 2.3% in the past 24 hours, with a trading price of $5.21, and it continues to rise.
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, on September 24th, NEAR surged by 57% after reaching a low of $3.41 on September 6th, marking an 8-week high of $5.36.
Factors that have contributed to the growing strength of NEAR include the implementation of blockchain sharding on the Near Protocol, an increase in open interest in the futures market, the increase in Total Value Locked (TVL), and the strengthening of the market structure.
Near Protocol implements sharding
Near Protocol is a community-operated cloud computing platform that focuses on interoperability and lightning-fast transaction speeds, and it has implemented sharding on its network.
According to the project, sharding solves the trilemma of blockchain by providing scalability and security without compromising decentralization.
The platform achieved this goal after the NEAR 2.0 update on August 12th, making NEAR the second chain, after Elrond (EGLD), to implement sharding in production.
With the increasing demand for decentralized applications (DApps), the implementation of sharding allows Near Protocol to achieve stable long-term growth.
Compared to Ethereum, Near Protocol offers faster and more scalable options with lower transaction fees, and sharding plays a crucial role in improving efficiency.
The price performance of NEAR can also be attributed to the latest partnership between Nvidia and Alibaba Cloud, which aims to improve China’s autonomous driving industry.
Cryptocurrencies related to artificial intelligence, including NEAR, have responded positively to Nvidia’s significant announcement.
Another catalyst for AI-related tokens comes from Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who hinted at creating an “opportunity economy” for AI and digital assets in the United States. This is the first time Harris has publicly shared her stance on the cryptocurrency industry.
On-chain data supports the surge in NEAR’s price
In the past month, the increase in network activity and growth has preceded the price performance of NEAR.
According to data from NearBlocks.io, this is due to the increasing adoption of projects on the NEAR protocol, with daily trading volume on the platform increasing by 42% between August 25th and September 24th. Similarly, the number of new addresses increased by 30.8% during the same period, demonstrating the continuous increase in adoption.
The growth in network activity has led to increased user interaction with the network, resulting in an increase in the Total Value Locked (TVL) on the platform.
According to DefiLlama, the TVL of the Near Protocol increased by 34% from $183.7 million on September 7th to $246.5 million on September 24th.
The increase in TVL indicates the continuous growth in activity and interest within the Near Protocol ecosystem, suggesting that more users are depositing or using assets within NEAR-based protocols.
In addition, data from derivatives tracker Coinglass shows that NEAR’s Open Interest (OI) increased from $114.9 million on September 7th to $279.2 million on September 24th, reaching the highest level since June 7th. This growth indicates that new or additional funds are entering the market, and new purchases are taking place.
The market structure of NEAR continues to strengthen, indicating further upward movement
NEAR’s surge on September 23rd broke the downtrend line. It also closed above all major moving averages, including the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $4.40, the 100-day EMA at $4.75, and the 200-day EMA at $4.87, which have been acting as barriers since mid-June.
The Relative Strength Index of 70 indicates that buyers are in control of the NEAR market.
Bulls will now focus on pushing the price up to $6 and potentially reaching the high point of the $6.45 range.
On the contrary, if the daily closing price falls below the 50-day moving average of $4.40, the low point on the daily chart will be lower, rendering the bullish argument invalid. In that case, bears might push NEAR’s price down by 32% to retest its low of $3.50 on September 6th.
