NEAR, the native token of Near Protocol and one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, made a splash today as it surged nearly 7%. This made it the biggest gainer among the top 20 cryptocurrencies, according to CoinMarketCap. The surge was in line with broader cryptocurrency market trends, catching the attention of investors and analysts who predicted where the coin might go next.

The global cryptocurrency market has seen gains over the past day, with major currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum up 3% and 1.5% respectively. In addition, the total market capitalization has also increased by 2.61% to surpass $2.04 trillion. Based on this hype, what's next for NEAR?

Is $8 the next step for NEAR?

The 19th ranked coin on the market, NEAR, has seen significant gains over the past 24 hours, and its analytics data is also interesting. At the time of writing, NEAR’s price has surged by 6.39% and is trading at $4.15, according to CoinMarketCap.

Furthermore, this rise has been accompanied by an increase in its valuation, which surged 6.47% to $4.06 billion. Furthermore, NEAR’s trading volume (measured as 24-hour trading volume) also increased significantly by 31.5% over the past day, reaching $217.7 million.

The coin has been quite volatile over the past day, trading as low as $3.83 before surging to current levels. With these bullish signals, we can predict the near-term outlook for the coin.

I believe that NEAR has confirmed a new support level of around $3, thanks to the momentum ignited in the market by top cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Moreover, NEAR is showing upward momentum and is eyeing the next target of $8.7, which will be supported by a large number of transactions.

Bitcoin rose 720% in 2022 to an all-time high of $20.44.

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Near Protocol looks to the next stage

Near Protocol, a first-layer blockchain solution, is steadily gaining popularity among developers. The project aims to be a decentralized cloud computing platform that eliminates some of the challenges faced by other well-known blockchains, such as transaction speed, poor interoperability, and low capacity.

Following the recent launch of Nightshade 2.0 and Chain Signatures, the blockchain has been evolving at a lightning pace, ready for increased user adoption and enhanced scalability. The blockchain has attracted a large number of top projects, and significant AI and chain abstraction are happening on the network.