Open interest in NEAR-linked futures reached a record $1.92 billion on October 12, as the token benefited from a rotation into cryptos associated with artificial intelligence. This peak reflects strong speculative activity, but not the arrival of $1.92 billion in fresh capital.
In brief
- Open interest in NEAR futures reached a record $1.92 billion on October 12.
- The token is benefiting from a renewed interest in cryptos linked to artificial intelligence.
- According to Wintermute, NEAR benefits from a rotation of capital towards crypto projects associated with AI.
- The development of AI agents and post-quantum technologies strengthens its positioning in this market.
- The decline in open interest to $1.56 billion, however, highlights the fragility of the movement and the risks linked to leverage.
NEAR’s Open Interest Quadruples in Two Months
Open interest on NEAR derivatives contracts hovered between $300 million and $450 million in July and August. It began to grow rapidly in mid-September, before exceeding a billion dollars and then reaching 1.92 billion on October 12.
The price followed a comparable trajectory. NEAR was worth around $1.60 in August, up from nearly $6 at the time of the record. This progression represents an increase of more than 260% in a few weeks.
Open interest measures the notional value of contracts that have not yet been closed. It corresponds neither to the sums actually deposited as collateral nor to direct purchases of the token on the spot market.
Its increase can come from several factors: creation of new positions, increase in the price of NEAR or increased use of leverage. In September, open interest expressed in dollars had increased much faster than the number of tokens represented by the contracts.
This record confirmed therefore the exceptional attention of traders, but does not reveal their direction. Each contract pits a long position against a short position. High open interest can accompany a rise as well as a future liquidation cascade.
Wintermute sees a rotation of crypto capital towards AI
The record came during a difficult week for the crypto market. Bitcoin fell 3.2% and Ethereum 7%, while only 11 of the 66 major altcoins finished in the green. Their median decline reached 3.7%.
U.S. bitcoin ETFs saw approximately $679 million in net outflows for the week. Ethereum funds lost $542 million, as $1.19 billion in crypto positions were liquidated in 24 hours around the weekly low.
In this context, Wintermute describes NEAR as the main beneficiary of a rotation towards projects related to artificial intelligence. The market maker notes that capital has abandoned part of large caps and the DeFi sector to focus on this new narrative.
His report of October 12 summary :
Capital moving out of liquid DeFi and large caps has flowed into AI-related assets, with NEAR the biggest winner.
Wintermute mentions two possible explanations for this outperformance: the arrival of post-quantum signatures and a short squeeze. The group specifies, however, that it could not confirm that these two elements really constituted the causes of the movement.
NEAR builds its positioning around AI agents
NEAR does not only benefit from a label added by traders. For several months, the project has been developing an infrastructure intended for autonomous agents, confidential inference and interactions between different blockchains.
NEAR AI has notably integrated OpenRouter into its confidential inference platform. This system must allow the use of artificial intelligence models without exposing certain sensitive data to the suppliers responsible for carrying out the calculations.
The project is also working on tools allowing AI agents to manage accounts and carry out operations between multiple networks. This orientation places NEAR at the intersection of two trends sought by investors: automation through AI and the abstraction of exchanges between blockchains.
The network has also introduced support for post-quantum signatures. This development comes at a time when several researchers are questioning the future capacity of artificial intelligence and quantum computers to weaken current cryptographic systems.
These developments provide a technological basis for storytelling. However, they do not yet demonstrate that NEAR dominates the market for AI applications, whose uses and revenues remain limited.
The decline in open interest signals a still fragile lever
After hitting $5.88, NEAR quickly corrected. The token is now trading around $5, while open interest has fallen back towards $1.56 billion.
This drop of almost 360 million since the record indicates that positions were voluntarily closed or liquidated. She confirms that the October 12 summit was partly based on significant leverage.
Daily volume in futures contracts is still around $2.4 billion, compared to nearly $440 million in the spot market. This difference shows that derivatives play a central role in current price formation.
The area between $4.60 and $4.30 is now the main technical support. A return above $5.50 would allow the token to aim for $6 again.
NEAR thus benefits from a credible positioning in AI, but its record remains above all that of derivative contracts. The network’s ability to turn this attention into users, activity and revenue will determine whether the movement can move beyond speculation.
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