NEAR Protocol's token surged nearly 29% in the last 24 hours, hitting around $2.26 after trading as low as $1.73 earlier in the day. The rally, fueled by a surge in AI-focused blockchain interest and a technical breakout above a multi-year descending trendline, pushed daily trading volume close to $1 billion. Most of the move came from short positions getting liquidated — the squeeze added momentum to what was already a strong week for NEAR, which is up about 60% over the past 30 days and 43% in the last seven.
Why AI buzz matters to NEAR
NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin co-authored the groundbreaking 'Attention Is All You Need' paper that introduced the Transformer architecture behind modern AI models. That connection gives the protocol a credible claim in the AI-blockchain crossover — something market participants have been paying attention to this month. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has been talking up agentic AI, and that chatter has spilled into crypto, where investors are looking for blockchain networks that could handle machine-to-machine transactions. NEAR has been positioning itself with AI integrations, intent-based transactions, and tools for autonomous agents. Its AI arm recently launched PII anonymisation tools for large language model apps.
The short squeeze behind the move
Over the past 24 hours, most of the NEAR liquidations came from short positions. That's not surprising given the speed of the rally — the token climbed from $1.73 to $2.26 in a single session. The exchange data shows forced buybacks amplifying the upward move, a classic squeeze pattern. NEAR had already been trending higher, but the combination of a technical breakout and a concentrated wave of short covering turned a good day into an exceptional one.
Breaking a multi-year ceiling
NEAR broke above a descending trendline that had capped its price since the 2022 bear market. That line had held for over three years, so the breakout is technically significant — though the token remains about 89% below its all-time high of $20.44 from January 2022. The first major support zone now sits around $2.20, with the $1.90 area as the next level below that. On the upside, immediate resistance is between $2.30 and $2.40; the next big target is $3.00. The recovery from the November 2020 all-time low is over 325%, but the path back to previous highs is a long one.
Where the token stands now
Intents framework expansion is another piece of the story. NEAR has been working to simplify cross-chain interactions, letting users or AI agents specify outcomes rather than worry about the bridge mechanics. That product work, combined with the AI narrative and the technical breakout, has given the token a jolt. But volume will need to sustain above $1 billion to keep the momentum through the $2.40 resistance. The short squeeze has played its part — now it's up to broader market appetite for AI-blockchain plays to carry NEAR toward that $3.00 target.
