NEAR Protocol’s native token climbed 16% over the weekend, according to The Motley Fool. Trading activity piled in right alongside it.
The numbers behind the run
The sharpest single burst came on October 10, 2026. NEAR gained as much as 11% that day and touched $6.00 on Binance.
It later cooled to around $5.64. Daily trading volume hit a record of approximately $3.54 billion, a 98% increase.
Over the four weeks leading into mid-October, NEAR rose by at least 83%. Some measurements put the gain far higher, in the range of 138-172%.
That rally pushed NEAR’s market capitalization to around $7.2 billion when the token traded near $5.50. The token is back inside the top 20 digital assets.
What’s driving the demand
NEAR Intents. This is NEAR’s cross-chain feature. Users describe the outcome they’re after, and the system routes it across blockchains.
NEAR Intents has recorded more than $31-33 billion in cumulative cross-chain volume across over 30 chains. September swap volume reached $4.8 billion, a 72.9% jump from the prior month.
The Bitwise ETF. Bitwise launched the first US spot NEAR ETF on September 29, 2026, trading under the ticker NRR. The fund drew nearly $58 million in inflows during its first week.
A proposed supply cut. A governance proposal would lower NEAR’s maximum annual token issuance from 2.5% to 1.6% over the next 24 months. The proposal is still underway, not finalized.
The exploit that didn’t stick
In early October, NEAR Intents was hit by a $3.8 million exploit. The funds were recovered within 24 hours. The token showed no lasting damage from the incident.
What this means for NEAR and the altcoin market
If the issuance proposal passes, the drop from 2.5% to 1.6% would phase in over 24 months. The token already slid from $6.00 to around $5.64 within the same session on October 10.
The signals worth tracking are fairly clear: whether NEAR Intents keeps posting monthly volume growth after September’s $4.8 billion, whether NRR inflows hold up past launch week, and how the governance vote on issuance resolves.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.