NEAR Protocol has almost doubled in a week, trading at $4.6259 on 23 September 2026, up 4.43% on the day and 91.83% over seven days. The token spent the first half of September grinding between roughly $2.28 and $2.82, then tested a local high near $4.45, just below a 52-week high at $4.46.
A large part of the move came from activity in NEAR Intents, the network's cross-chain routing system. Cumulative volume reached $29.3 billion, with $842 million processed in the past week and a record day above $300 million on 18 September. By comparison, all of July 2025 produced $406 million. The protocol also activated limit orders for Intents, allowing users to set target prices for cross-chain swaps with confidential filling.
Derivatives markets expanded alongside the rally. Open interest climbed to $1.29 billion, roughly double the $600 million level in early September and above the $850 million peak from late May. An 11.5% surge on 21 September triggered $8.88 million in short liquidations. However, Santiment data showed dollar-denominated open interest rose 119% between 13 and 20 September, while open interest measured in NEAR tokens rose only 21%, indicating that real new positioning was smaller than headline figures suggest.
Bitwise research analyst Camran Khosravi pointed to a NEAR-Zcash relationship: NEAR Intents' total value locked can rise when previously deposited ZEC appreciates, independent of fresh capital. Zcash was up 30.62% on the week at $1,493.17 and about 192% since July. Aurora Intents routed $19 million to a Zcash auction on 21 September, processing more than half the volume of a ZEC-denominated NFT sale.
On 23 September, Hyperliquid opened a NEAR spot market, extending beyond the perpetual futures contract it already listed. NEAR changed hands near $4.33 after the deployment, bringing its gain since 17 September to roughly 40%. Early on 23 September, open interest across NEAR perpetuals stood at about $344.2 million against 24-hour volume of $269.1 million, with positive hourly funding of 0.0017%. NEAR's Confidential Intents TVL crossed $70 million on 17 September, releasing 333,333 tokens in milestone rewards.
NEAR Protocol described the move as a deployment rather than a conventional listing, because Hyperliquid's spot book settles on the same venue that clears perpetuals, removing the transfer step between a hedge and the underlying asset. That improves cash-and-carry economics for arbitrage desks, though NEAR's daily turnover remains small relative to Hyperliquid's roughly $237 billion in 30-day perpetual volume. Hyperliquid generated $429.04 million in revenue between 1 January and 15 September 2026.
Technical levels now include resistance at $4.20 to $4.40, with $4 seen as must-hold support, further support at $3.80 to $3.90 and the former breakout range at $3.30 to $3.50. Analysts have flagged $5 as the next milestone if buying persists. Momentum is stretched: the daily relative strength index has been above 83 and the weekly reading near 76, while NEAR remains about 77% below its January 2022 all-time high of $20.42.
