NEAR emerges as top gainer, open interest at 4-month high

NEAR Protocol’s native token, NEAR, gained bullish momentum over the past week and just reached its 10-month-high.

NEAR is up 17.6% in the past 24 hours and is trading at $2.74 at the time of writing — a level last seen in mid-February. The asset’s market cap currently stands at $2.74 billion, making it the 31st-largest cryptocurrency.

NEAR price, open interest, Binance funding rate and RSI – Dec. 20 | Source: Santiment

NEAR Protocol’s daily trading volume recorded a 144% rally, surpassing the $400 million mark.

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According to data provided by the market intelligence platform Santiment, NEAR’s total open interest (OI) increased by 17.2% — rising from $77.5 million to $90.8 million. While the current OI shows high investor interest, the exact amounts of short and long position holders are not clear.

It’s important to note that NEAR’s OI has surpassed the $90 million mark for the first time since August.

Moreover, data from Santiment shows that NEAR Protocol’s Binance funding rate hovers around 0.01%. This indicator suggests a slight dominance of long position holders until further price movements.

Per Santiment, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) of NEAR also recorded a slight increase, from 58 to 59, over the past 24 hours. For the asset to remain above the $2.7 mark, its RSI needs to stay below 60.

If NEAR’s RSI goes above the 65 mark, the possibility of a price cooldown should be expected.

NEAR Protocol announced notable partnerships in early November which could have been key elements in starting the asset’s bullish momentum in the first place.

On Nov. 8, the protocol joined forces with Polygon Labs to enhance zero-knowledge proofs. Two days later, NEAR Protocol partnered with Eigen Labs to make Ethereum rollups more efficient and reduce its costs.

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