NEAR Token Rally Pauses at 10% Gain as Traders Take Profits Following ETP Launch Announcement

The NEAR Protocol's AI-focused token halted its 10% surge on Thursday as traders began profit-taking following a rally triggered by Bitwise's announcement of a new NEAR exchange-traded product (ETP) in Germany.

'Bitwise's NEAR Staking ETP on Xetra creates an institutional gateway to NEAR through a regulated, exchange-traded vehicle for staking rewards,' NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin told CoinDesk. 'This provides compliant access to NEAR's ecosystem and user-owned AI infrastructure, eliminating the need for private key management or node operations while offering full price transparency.'

Technical analysis reveals NEAR established strong support at $2.26 during July 2-3 trading, with above-average volume confirming this level. The token breached the $2.30 resistance early on July 3, peaking at $2.36 before settling. The 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level provided support during the pullback, indicating the underlying uptrend remains healthy.

A sharp sell-off occurred between 15:046644-15:07 on July 3, with volume spiking above 310,000 units. The token has now formed a new support zone between $2.26-$2.27, though the $2.26 close suggests short-term bearish pressure may persist.

Meanwhile, the CoinDesk 20 Index gained 2% before a late-session correction, demonstrating notable volatility with a $37.27 (2.11%) range. The index peaked at $1,811.11 before retreating to $1,791.50 at close, showing strong institutional buying activity during midday trading.