NEAR was one of the best performing tokens at a time when the rest of the market was a commonplace. It started to recover from late February and has risen steadily since then.
It’s not like there hasn’t been a red day. NEAR previously moved at a constant higher high, higher low, which clearly reflects the market conviction. NEAR is up 21% in the past two days, flipping both Litecoin and Dai in terms of market cap.
Steady price action
Currently, NEAR is trading near $16 and has crossed several critical hurdles. After a strong break from the 50 and 200 DMA around March 20, it rebounded and tore through the $13-14 region, which was a historic level of support/resistance (highlighted in blue). In addition, in the past two days, it has shown its conviction above both.
NEAR/USDT | Source: Tradingview
Additionally, given that the RSI is still below 70 on the daily chart, further upward movement can be seen from then on until it hits the overbought zone. Any profit posting at those levels should not impact the broader structure. And it is even expected to continue shortly after the cooldown. The next logical resistance level after this would be the ATH around $20.5.
On-chain statistics for the currency were positive, albeit mild. Nothing points to an immediate run up like some other altcoins are now. For example, on-chain volumes have steadily increased along with the price recovery. As a rule of thumb, a volume-assisted recovery bodes well for price action.
Volume | Source: Saniment
Development activity for NEAR was also mediocre. It fell from its highs in early February 2022, but has since managed to maintain the status quo and continue at a steady pace.
The development activity metric from Santiment can help us understand a project’s commitment to the product and thus to the end users. Consistency in this regard is a good sign.
Development activity | Source: Saniment
Here’s the caveat
However, there is one point of contention that could hurt his positivity in the future. According to data from coin glass liquidation data, despite the recent price recovery, there have been more long than short liquidations.
This further suggests that investors in this currency are looking for gains at higher levels.
Total liquidations | Source: Coinglass
Typically, a rally accompanied by short liquidations bodes well as the bears in the market book their losses and exit, giving the bulls more strength.
So overall, it seems like an investor looking for HODL might consider skipping NEAR for now. The fundamentals seem manageable at best and day trading on the go can be the way to go. Until the fundamentals change for the better, so far there is no specific reason to invest in it for the long term.