NEAR Protocol (NEAR) Price: Token Rallies Over 100% in September on ETF and AI News

TLDR

NEAR rose from about $1.80 in early September to over $5, gaining 183% for the month. Bitwise launched the first U.S. spot NEAR ETF (NRR) on Sept. 29, pulling in $58 million in its first week. Grayscale highlighted NEAR’s “agentic commerce” vision, where AI agents can pay for services and request work on their own. NEAR trades near $5.19, with support at $5.13 and resistance at $5.39-$5.44. MyNearWallet will shut down Oct. 31, pushing users toward Meteor Wallet and near.com.

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NEAR Protocol has had one of the strongest runs in the crypto market this fall. The token started September near $1.80 and climbed above $5 by October.

NEAR Price

That move added up to a gain of about 183%, according to data cited by Grayscale. It outpaced the broader AI crypto sector, which rose 54% over the same stretch.

Much of the early rally came from derivatives markets. Santiment reported dollar-denominated open interest jumped 119% between Sept. 13 and Sept. 20.

Open interest measured in NEAR tokens rose only about 21% in that window. That gap suggests leverage and rising token value played a bigger role than new positions.

Funding rates climbed to roughly 1.6 times their two-month median. Traders have been watching the chart for clues on what comes next.

Analyst Nebraskangooner pointed to a pennant pattern forming on the NEAR chart, writing that traders should watch for this pennant to break for the next big move.

$NEAR (per request)

Watch for this pennant to break for next big move. pic.twitter.com/sesjOY0F70

— Nebraskangooner (@Nebraskangooner) October 6, 2026

NEAR spot trading also went live on Hyperliquid on Sept. 22-23. That added direct NEAR/USDC trading next to the platform’s existing perpetual market, where open interest stood near $344 million.

The biggest catalyst came on Sept. 29, when Bitwise launched the first U.S. spot NEAR ETF. The fund trades on NYSE Arca under the ticker NRR and charges a 0.75% annual fee.

By Oct. 6, the ETF had pulled in about $58 million in its first week. Bitwise’s research also set a $562.81 price target for 2030.

AI Agents Drive the Investment Case

NEAR’s pitch increasingly centers on AI agents rather than general blockchain use. Grayscale described the network as a platform for agentic commerce, where agents can request work and pay for services on their own.

Grayscale names NEAR among the leaders of crypto's AI sector, calling it the "platform for agentic commerce."

NEAR was co-founded by @ilblackdragon, co-author of "Attention Is All You Need," the paper that introduced the transformer: the T in ChatGPT.https://t.co/YgPoTJVoMK

— NEAR Protocol (@NEARProtocol) October 5, 2026

The report pointed to NEAR’s chain abstraction tools, which let agents move across blockchains in fewer steps. Co-founder Illia Polosukhin also co-authored the original Transformer architecture paper used in modern AI systems.

NEAR AI expanded its confidential-inference platform through a partnership with OpenRouter on Sept. 28. NEAR One then unveiled SPICE, a system that separates transaction execution from consensus to improve scalability.

Analyst Altcoin Sherpa offered a more cautious view, saying he would love to see this chop and consolidate for another one to two weeks before another leg up, adding that NEAR’s path depends largely on bitcoin.

$NEAR would love to see this chop and consolidate for another 1-2 weeks and then have a strong leg up. It's going to be bitcoin dependent imo but I still think near is a great coin pic.twitter.com/U7fGmHlqOw

— Altcoin Sherpa (@AltcoinSherpa) October 6, 2026

Wallet Shutdown Adds a New Test

NEAR’s user base faces a separate change unrelated to price. MyNearWallet will shut down on Oct. 31, with users directed to Meteor Wallet or near.com instead.

The migration included guided tools since August, with reduced functionality starting this month. Funds and staking positions stay on-chain throughout.

Price action has stayed active through the transition. NEAR pulled back to $4.70-$4.80 on Oct. 5 before rebounding to trade near $5.19 to $5.25 the next day.

Resistance sits near $5.39 to $5.44, while support holds at $5.13. A close above resistance could open the door toward $5.56 and then $6.00.

NEAR’s weekly RSI eased to around 75 after nearing 85 in late September. The 50-day moving average sits near $2.90, below the current price.

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