TLDR
- NEAR surged 26.52% in 24 hours to around $2.19, leading all AI-related tokens
- A short squeeze at $1.72 triggered $5.8 million in short liquidations
- NEAR broke above a multi-year descending trendline for the first time since the 2024 cycle top
- NVIDIA’s 85% year-over-year revenue growth helped boost sentiment toward AI-linked crypto projects
- Analyst Michaël van de Poppe called NEAR one of the most bullish charts in the ecosystem
NEAR Protocol jumped 26.52% in 24 hours on Friday, reaching around $2.19. The move made NEAR the top performer among AI-related tokens for the day.
The rally was sparked by a short squeeze at the $1.72 resistance level. Around $5.8 million in short positions were liquidated, pushing the price more than 70% above its monthly low of roughly $1.25.
NEAR’s 24-hour trading volume hit $825 million, a 124% increase. Its market cap reached $2.84 billion.
NEAR outperformed every other AI token on the day. Worldcoin rose 9.94%, FET gained 8.42%, and Internet Computer added 3.31%. NEAR beat the next closest AI token by more than 15 percentage points.
NVIDIA’s Q1 FY2027 earnings, released May 20, showed 85% year-over-year revenue growth and $81.6 billion in quarterly revenue. The company also approved $80 billion in share buybacks and raised its dividend. This boosted broader sentiment toward AI infrastructure, including decentralized AI projects like NEAR.
NEAR’s privacy AI tools run on NVIDIA-powered Trusted Execution Environments, stripping sensitive data before sending requests to models like ChatGPT and Claude. The project’s focus on the “Agentic Web,” where AI agents handle payments, identity, and cross-chain tasks, helped it stand out during this market shift.
NEAR also recently cut its annual inflation rate from 5% to 2.5%. Protocol fees are now used to buy back NEAR tokens.
Technical Breakout
NEAR broke above a multi-year descending trendline for the first time since the 2024 cycle top. Open interest climbed to over $473 million, pointing to fresh capital entering the market.
$NEAR still a great move, this one has held up better than most other coins. I think that this is still 1 of the best coins on the market pic.twitter.com/robzqHwmPV
— Altcoin Sherpa (@AltcoinSherpa) May 21, 2026
Analyst DonWedge had flagged a descending wedge setup on May 7 with a $3.00 technical reference. He confirmed the breakout publicly on May 21. Elliott Wave analysis from More Crypto Online points to Fibonacci extension targets at $2.30, $2.50, and $2.87. Short-term moving averages across the 10, 20, 30, and 50 periods all show a buy signal.
Analyst Michaël van de Poppe described NEAR as “one of the most bullish charts in the ecosystem,” adding that as long as price holds above $1.40, he expects continuation. He cited NEAR’s revenue growth and the use case behind NEAR Intents as reasons for his outlook. Altcoin Sherpa also backed the token, calling it “still one of the best coins on the market.”
One of the most bullish charts in the ecosystem: $NEAR.
Resilient despite the recent correction on the markets, price already rallies towards new highs.
As long as this stays above $1.40, I would assume that there's continuation on the board.
I remain to be expecting a $2.00… pic.twitter.com/mFzn0L8ZkV
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) May 19, 2026
On-Chain Activity Lags
Despite the price action, on-chain data tells a different story. Daily active users dropped from nearly 3 million earlier this year to around 266,000. The decline sharpened after April and has not recovered.
Key resistance sits between $2.80 and $3.25. A weekly close above that range could open the path toward $4.50 and beyond. Support is at $2.20, with $1.80 and $1.50 below that.
