NEAR Protocol has gained a new trading catalyst after its native token was deployed on Hyperliquid’s spot market, opening NEAR/USDC trading alongside an already active perpetual futures market.
Summary
- NEAR spot trading has gone live on Hyperliquid, giving users direct access to NEAR/USDC alongside the platform’s existing perpetual market.
- NEAR perpetual open interest on Hyperliquid stood near $344 million as the token traded above $4 following a strong weekly rally.
- Positive funding showed long positions were paying shorts, while new spot activity could provide a clearer picture of demand beyond leveraged trading.
- NEAR’s rally has coincided with growth in Confidential Intents and several recent integrations across its ecosystem.
According to NEAR Protocol’s Sept. 23 announcement, users can now trade NEAR against USDC on Hyperliquid, although the token will take several more days to appear on the platform’s Strict List under its normal deployment process.
NEAR traded near $4.33 following the launch, close to its recent 52 week high of $4.46. The token has risen strongly over the past week after changing hands near $3 in mid September, with several network developments arriving during the rally.
Spot access on Hyperliquid adds another market for direct NEAR purchases at a time when derivatives traders already have substantial exposure to the token. Hyperliquid data compiled by HyperAcademy showed NEAR perpetual open interest at roughly $344.2 million early on Sept. 23, while 24 hour volume stood near $269.1 million.
Funding was positive at 0.0017% per hour during the same snapshot, indicating that long positions were paying shorts. Hyperliquid allows up to 10 times leverage on its NEAR perpetual contract.
NEAR price rally meets heavy derivatives activity
NEAR’s move onto Hyperliquid spot comes after the token recorded one of its strongest weekly runs this year.
On Sept. 17, NEAR traded near $3.05 after gaining 20.8% in 24 hours, leading gains among several large AI linked crypto assets. The token has since moved above $4, putting it roughly 40% above the Sept. 17 level.
Derivatives activity has grown alongside the rally. NEAR perpetuals ranked among Hyperliquid’s most heavily traded markets on Sept. 23, with roughly $248 million in 24 hour volume in a later market snapshot.
Spot trading creates a separate route for Hyperliquid users who want to hold NEAR without taking leveraged perpetual positions. It gives market makers access to NEAR spot and perpetual markets on the same platform, where positions can be hedged between the two markets.
Price action following the deployment will provide more data on whether spot demand can keep pace with the derivatives activity already surrounding NEAR. Open interest remains particularly important after the recent rally because a large leveraged market can produce heavier liquidations when price moves quickly in either direction.
Positive funding shows that traders were paying to maintain long exposure at the latest reading. A continued rise in open interest accompanied by heavily positive funding could leave leveraged long positions more exposed during a price reversal, while stronger spot volume would show that trading activity is not confined to perpetual contracts.
NEAR Confidential Intents activity has grown
The Hyperliquid deployment follows several developments around NEAR’s cross chain infrastructure.
NEAR’s confidential total value locked crossed $70 million on Sept. 17, automatically triggering the first snapshot under its incentive program, crypto.news previously reported.
The snapshot set aside 333,333 milestone tokens for eligible users. Participants must maintain more than $100 in confidential balances and have an active swap history, while individual wallets are limited to 2% of the distribution.
Rewards from the first snapshot remain locked until NEAR’s three day volume weighted average price reaches at least $3.33. NEAR has since moved above that price threshold.
Confidential Intents routes transactions through a private NEAR shard and supports execution across more than 30 connected blockchains. NEAR said the system is designed to prevent transactions from appearing in public mempools, limiting exposure to front running, strategy leakage and other forms of maximal extractable value.
Activity connected to NEAR Intents has continued elsewhere in the ecosystem. Aurora Labs said its solver network has routed more than $30 billion after adding Sui as a destination for one signature cross chain transactions.
NEAR Intents solvers were later used to convert assets during a Zcash NFT auction, where more than $19 million passed through Aurora Intents across 1,718 swaps.
Hyperliquid spot listing follows another NEAR integration
NEAR’s latest Hyperliquid deployment comes as the platform handles billions of dollars in daily derivatives trading.
Hyperliquid generated $429.04 million in revenue between Jan. 1 and Sept. 15, giving it 12.62% of the $3.40 billion revenue pool in CoinGecko’s adjusted comparison of crypto projects. The platform finished more than $106 million ahead of Pump.fun at the Sept. 15 cutoff.
Trading activity has remained concentrated in perpetual futures. Data cited in September showed Hyperliquid recording nearly $237 billion in perpetual trading volume over a 30 day period as more companies began using its infrastructure.
The platform has continued adding trading functions during the same period. Trailing stop orders became available for perpetual markets on Sept. 21, allowing traders to set triggers that follow favorable movements in the mark price before executing a market order after a chosen retracement.
For NEAR, spot deployment now places direct token trading beside the leveraged market that has already accumulated more than $300 million in open positions.
NEAR ecosystem adds tokenized stocks through Ondo
Another NEAR integration arrived one day before the Hyperliquid spot deployment.
NEAR partnered with Ondo Finance to add 20 tokenized assets through near.com and NEAR Intents. The initial selection includes tokenized exposure to Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, along with products tied to QQQ, silver and gold.
Eligible users can route supported crypto assets from more than 30 connected blockchains into Ondo Stocks through NEAR Intents without opening a separate brokerage account. Bitcoin and USDC are among the assets that can be used to fund purchases.
Access remains subject to Ondo’s securities restrictions, with U.S. persons excluded from the product. Ondo said the tokenized assets are issued through its Global Markets infrastructure, while NEAR Intents handles the cross chain routing used to reach them.
