NEAR Protocol (NEAR) soared by more than 75% over the last seven days, reaching a price of approximately $2.75 on May 26, 2026. The rally comes as a massive short squeeze converged with a broader rotation of capital into tokens linked to artificial intelligence. This surge pushed the project’s market capitalization to roughly $3.57 billion and saw 24-hour trading volumes climb above $1.15 billion.
The token broke out of a stagnant trading range between $1.20 and $1.75 that had persisted for most of May. The shift followed a catalyst from the traditional tech sector: NVIDIA’s Q1 FY2027 earnings report. On May 20, 2026, NVIDIA reported $81.6 billion in revenue and $58.3 billion in profits, representing an 85% year-over-year revenue increase. During the call, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang remarked that “agentic AI has arrived,” sparking renewed interest in blockchain platforms serving as AI infrastructure.
NEAR Protocol markets itself as the “blockchain for AI,” providing an execution layer for AI agents to own assets and transact across chains. This positioning was reinforced by NEAR Protocol co-founder Illia Polosukhin, who joined BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes to discuss the network’s role in the “privacy revolution.” Hayes recently identified $NEAR as part of a “holy trinity of altcoins” alongside Hyperliquid ($HYPE) and Zcash ($ZEC), fuel for a market where altcoin demand shifts toward new tokens with clear utility.
Short squeeze dynamics lead to $9.85 million in liquidations
The price move was significantly accelerated by the liquidation of bearish bets in the derivatives market. As the token price surpassed a key resistance level near $1.72, forced buybacks from short sellers created intense upward pressure. Over a seven-day period, liquidations of short positions exceeded $9.85 million. In one four-hour window alone, more than $2.4 million in shorts were wiped out.
Data from May 22 showed the scale of the imbalance; nearly $5.8 million of the $6.1 million in positions liquidated over 24 hours were shorts. This forced demand is a stark contrast to other sectors where crypto liquidations rise alongside treasury yields, suggesting idiosyncratic strength in the AI token basket. Open interest also climbed during the rally, crossing the $720 million mark by May 24.
The protocol’s technical roadmap, which includes automatic personally identifiable information (PII) redaction for enterprise AI tools, has helped sustain this interest. While the spot price has moved aggressively, the network is also seeing growth in fee revenue from its cross-chain settlement system. This infrastructure focus reflects a shift where an AI-driven DEX reports increased activity across multiple major networks.
Ecosystem metrics and institutional positioning
Institutional interest in NEAR has become more visible throughout 2026. Products like the Bitwise NEAR Staking exchange-traded product (ETP) and interest from Grayscale indicate that professional investors are looking at the protocol’s secondary role as a decentralized execution layer. Although daily active users have dipped to roughly 266,000 from peaks of 3 million, the focus has shifted toward high-value AI agent transactions.
The Altcoin Season Index currently hovers in the high 40s, indicating the market is in a transition zone rather than a full-blown mania. Despite the 75% weekly rally, NEAR remains roughly 85% below its 2022 all-time high of $20.44. Traders are now watching to see if the momentum from the “AI rotation” can sustain the token above its new support levels as the broader crypto market navigates shifting macroeconomic sentiment.
