NEAR Price Jumps 5% but Fails to Gain Momentum Amid Net Selling Pressure
NEAR's price has surged by 5.42% to $1.89 in what is being seen as a positioning shift, rather than a pure price movement. The Layer-1 cryptocurrency has reclaimed all its short-term moving averages and is now trading above the 200-day SMA at $1.64.
The broader Layer-1 space is seeing rotation, with Bitcoin dominance compressing slightly, and NEAR benefiting from this spillover. The narrative around NEAR's AI-layer integrations and chain abstraction has not died down; it's just waiting for a catalyst to reactivate.
Traders are watching as the price movement is being driven by spot buying and short covering, rather than fresh leveraged conviction. Open interest has dropped 1.65% over the last 24 hours while price has rallied.
The taker buy/sell ratio at 0.80 suggests that despite the price surge, the actual aggressive flow in the market is net selling. Someone is distributing into this strength, which is not a death sentence for the rally but does mean it's demand-light at the margin.