NEAR crypto drops 16% a day after Bitwise’s bullish report

NEAR Protocol [NEAR] doesn’t usually get a lot of the spotlight. Lately, though, people can’t seem stop talking about it.

Something has changed, and the community has noticed. What’s pulling people there?

NEAR crypto went up 198% in Q3!

NEAR’s third-quarter performance has attracted attention from Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, who highlighted the token in his latest market commentary.

In an October 7 report, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan noted that NEAR rose 198% in Q3.

Here’s some jaw dropping context: Bitcoin [BTC] gained 43% over the same quarter. Ethereum [ETH] gained 71%. NEAR beat both by a huge mile.

Most small coins in Hougan’s view, are long shots that end badly. NEAR is one of the few he’s comfortable recommending, because it has an established business that’s already working.

That business is NEAR Intents.

Monthly trading volume for the same was $4.80 billion in September. A year earlier, it was under $500 million.

The previous peak was $3.65 billion in November last year.

Co-founder Illia Polosukhin has a vision in place too.

He says people need CEXs for fewer things every year. His envisioned future involves swapping any asset for any other, with AI agents doing a lot of the clicking.

NEAR crypto fell 16% , and the timing is awkward

NEAR fell nearly 16% from its October 8 opening price of $5.34 to around $4.49 at press time. Earlier in the session, it had dropped as low as $4.30, marking an intraday decline of nearly 20%.

If you take a good look though, you’ll see that NEAR is up 3x from its August low near $1.60.

Indicators have been warning us of this for a while. RSI was above 80 a few days ago, and now it’s 52.7.

MACD got bearish around the start of October, and the red bars have been getting longer since. Today’s is the biggest yet.

Holding above $4.30 would help.

Final Summary

• NEAR crypto rose 198% in Q3, beating Bitcoin’s 43% and Ethereum’s 71%.
• NEAR Intents hit a record $4.80 billion in monthly volume in September.