After a 10% Surge, NEAR Protocol’s Rally Pauses Amid Profit-Taking

NEAR, a token with ties to the AI sector, spiked to $2.36 on Thursday, supported by strong market demand and excitement over Bitwise’s announcement of a new NEAR exchange-traded product (ETP) debuting in Germany. However, the upward momentum faded as investors began securing gains, triggering a price pullback to the $2.26 support level, aligned with a key Fibonacci retracement zone.

“The NEAR Staking ETP, launching on Xetra, offers institutional access to NEAR and its decentralized AI ecosystem,” said Illia Polosukhin in a statement to CoinDesk. “It enables passive staking rewards with institutional-grade security and transparency—no need for node operation or private key management.”

Though some profit-taking has paused the rally, NEAR’s technical setup suggests the asset is consolidating and could resume its upward trend soon.

Price Action and Technical Levels

• Between 2 July at 16:00 and 3 July at 15:00, NEAR held support around $2.26 as trading volumes remained elevated.
• A breakout above the $2.30 resistance level early on 3 July led to a high of $2.36 before a reversal set in.
• The 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level provided support during the correction phase, signaling strength in the broader bullish trend.
• A rapid sell-off between 15:04 and 15:07 saw volumes spike to over 310,000 tokens traded.
• By the end of the session, NEAR had settled at $2.26, with new support forming in the $2.26–$2.27 range, reflecting short-term bearish pressure.

CD20 Index Records Sharp Gains Before Late-Session Decline

The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) showed a wide swing over the same period, gaining as much as 2.11% or $37.27. It reached a peak of $1,811.11 at 14:00 before slipping to $1,791.50 by session close.

Earlier gains were driven by a rally from $1,778.85 overnight lows, adding over $21 (1.18%) by midday. Heavy buying between 09:00 and 13:00 pointed to strong institutional interest, though the final hour saw some retracement as traders took profits.