# NEAR Futures Open Interest Reached a Record $1.92 Billion on Oct. 12

By Enna Lee

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/31646
Published: 2026-10-14T07:57:06.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-14T07:57:06.000Z
Section: Investing

> Open interest measures the value of outstanding contracts, not fresh capital. The figure alone does not show whether traders were positioned for a rise or fall.

NEAR futures open interest reached a record $1.92 billion on Oct. 12 as money moved toward artificial intelligence-linked crypto projects, highlighting the value of outstanding contracts without showing how traders were positioned.

Open interest measures the notional value of futures contracts that remain open. The figure does not reveal whether traders are betting on NEAR to rise or fall, and it does not establish how much new capital entered the market.

NEAR stood out amid a rotation from large-cap tokens and liquid decentralized finance assets toward projects linked to artificial intelligence. Post-quantum signature support and a short squeeze were proposed as possible explanations for its outperformance, but neither was confirmed.

The record came during a weak week for much of the broader crypto market. Bitcoin (BTC) fell 3.2% and Ether (ETH) dropped 7%. Of 66 large-cap altcoins, 11 finished higher, and the group’s median decline was 3.7%.