Near Protocol (NEAR) Touches $19 as TVL Jumps to $340 Million

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Published: Apr 9, 2022, 04:34 UTC

NEAR Protocol sees its total value locked rise by 149% year-to-date, supporting the current NEAR price upswing and a look at its January ATH of $20.48.

Key Insights:

On Friday, Near Protocol (NEAR) touched $19 before falling back amidst a broad-based crypto sell-off.
The upward price trend comes as Near Protocol’s total value locked breaks the $300 million barrier.
Technical indicators are bullish, with NEAR sitting above the 50-day EMA.

On Friday, NEAR bucked the broader crypto market trend, rising by 0.69%. Following a 14.01% breakout on Thursday, NEAR ended the day at $17.53.

While the upside on the day was modest, NEAR revisited $19 levels with a day high of $19.32 falling back. The early breakout saw NEAR come within range of its all-time high of $20.48 before succumbing to crypto market forces.

Breaking through the First Major Resistance Level at $18.38, the Second Major Resistance Level at $19.33 limited the upside.

New Address Counts and Total Value Locked Delivers NEAR Support

On Friday, FX Empire reported the launch of the NEAR Foundation to drive the development of network projects. The news was NEAR positive, with acceleration in address growth in the first quarter also NEAR positive.

According to Friday’s report, the Near Protocol users based surged by 139% to 5.3 million in the first quarter.

It has been an impressive start to the year for NEAR. According to Defi Llama, NEAR’s total value locked (TVL) surged to a Saturday ATH of $340.07m. On December 31, 2021, NEAR’s TVL stood at $136.61m.

The upward trend in TVL has been key to NEAR price action in recent months. Year-to-date, NEAR is up by 17.5%. The TVL has surged by 149%.

NEAR Protocol Total Value Locked

What is Total Value Locked, and Why Does it Matter?

The total value locked is the value of crypto assets deposited in a DeFi protocol. In recent months, TVL has drawn significant interest. Traders consider the TVL a key metric in measuring market interest and native token value.

The market will be looking for divergence between the TVL and the market cap of a token. Buying or selling opportunities present themselves at times of greatest TVL and price divergence.

NEAR Price Action

At the time of writing, NEAR was down 2.62% to $17.07. A mixed start saw NEAR rise to an early morning high of $18.19 before falling to a low of $16.75.

A move through $18.50 would support another run at $20.

Technical Indicators

NEAR will need to move through the $17.89 pivot to make a move through the First Major Resistance Level at $18.96.

Broader market sentiment would need to improve to support a move through $18.5 levels.

In the event of another extended rally, NEAR should test the Second Major Resistance Level at $20.39 and resistance at the ATH of $20.48.

Failure to move through the pivot would bring the First Major Support Level at $16.46 into play. Barring an extended sell-off throughout the day, NEAR should avoid sub-$16. The Second Major Support Level sits at $15.39.

Failure to move through the pivot would test support at $16.

The EMAs and the 4-hourly candlestick chart (below) send a bullish signal. As a result of the current breakout, NEAR currently sits above the 50-day EMA at $16.12. This morning, the 50-day EMA pulled away from the 100-day EMA. We also saw the 100-day EMA move away from the 200-day EMA; NEAR price positive.

Avoiding the 50-day EMA would support a return to $20.

NEAR will need to avoid the 50-day EMA to take a run at its ATH of $20.48.

About the Author

Bob Masonauthor

With over 20 years of experience in the finance industry, Bob has been managing regional teams across Europe and Asia and focusing on analytics across both corporate and financial institutions. Currently he is covering developments relating to the financial markets, including currencies, commodities, alternative asset classes, and global equities.