NEAR extends recovery following Jio perpetuals launch

NEAR Protocol moved higher on Wednesday, extending the previous session's roughly 6% rebound as traders assessed a new derivatives offering tied to Jio Platforms alongside softer flows into the token's exchange-traded fund.

Wednesday's advance kept the recovery intact even as demand through the Bitwise NEAR-focused ETF cooled, leaving the token to eye the $5 mark.

Confidential perpetual contracts tied to Jio Platforms

NEAR Intents, a trading platform within the NEAR ecosystem, launched confidential perpetual contracts linked to Jio Platforms on Tuesday, ahead of the Reliance Group company's scheduled Wednesday listing. The contracts give traders exposure to Jio's price movements before the listing while keeping the details of their positions confidential.

Perpetual contracts are a derivatives format that originated in crypto markets; unlike traditional futures, they carry no fixed expiry date, so positions stay open until traders close them. Extending that structure to an equity around its listing date illustrates how crypto venues are increasingly building instruments tied to traditional-market assets rather than only to their own tokens.

The instruments are derivatives rather than vehicles for ownership of the underlying shares. Their launch adds another trading use case to the NEAR ecosystem, although its effect on demand for the NEAR token itself remains uncertain.

Bitwise NEAR ETF records $4.84 million in outflows

Bitwise's NEAR-focused exchange-traded fund recorded $4.84 million in net outflows on Tuesday, according to SoSoValue data. The withdrawal followed $1.40 million in inflows on Monday, leaving a combined net outflow of approximately $3.44 million across the two sessions.

The reversal came after four consecutive weeks of inflows. It could reflect profit-taking, but fund flows alone do not reveal investors' motivations, nor do they indicate whether the trend will persist. Flows through exchange-traded funds draw attention because such funds are among the regulated vehicles that allow conventional brokerage accounts to hold token exposure, making them a visible gauge of one channel of demand. Further withdrawals would signal continued softness in demand through the ETF, while renewed inflows would suggest that Tuesday's redemptions were temporary.

NEAR holds above its 50-day moving average

NEAR traded around $4.74 in the supplied price snapshot, remaining above its 50-day Exponential Moving Average at $4.33. That positioning preserves a constructive near-term structure despite the pullback from the October 12 high of $6.00. The 200-day EMA sits considerably lower at $2.89, supporting the broader upward trend.

Even so, NEAR remains below a descending trendline around $5.02, and buyers need to overcome that barrier to strengthen the recovery. A confirmed breakout could bring the September 27 high of $5.57 into focus. Until then, the psychological $5 threshold and the nearby trendline remain obstacles.

Daily momentum indicators have yet to show a decisive bullish shift. The Relative Strength Index stands near 49, close to the neutral 50 level, indicating a balance between buying and selling pressure. Meanwhile, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence line remains below its signal line and slopes downward, suggesting momentum is still subdued despite the latest rebound.

On the downside, initial support lies at the September 25 low near $4.43, followed by the 50-day EMA at $4.33. A break below those levels could expose the September 19 high around $3.91. Holding that support area while reclaiming $5.02 would provide stronger evidence that NEAR's recovery is gaining traction.