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As 2023 draws to a close after over 160 major developments in the cryptocurrency market, expectations for 2024 are high. Investors’ appetite for risk is anticipated to remain strong in the coming weeks. With the approval of ETFs almost certain, no significant macro developments are expected, while altcoins have unsurprisingly achieved double-digit gains. The question arises: what are the expectations for AVAX and NEAR Coin?
The rise of AVAX began with the announcement of a partnership between Avalanche and AWS in 2023. Following this announcement, BTC climbed back to $17,000, but while its competitors surged by 5-10 times, AVAX did not experience the expected parabolic increases. At the time of writing, Avalanche (AVAX), the tenth-largest crypto by market value, is trading at around $44.
In late November, 9.54 million AVAX coins were unlocked, yet the price continued to rise, indicating the market’s eagerness to stockpile the new supply for the following year. The high network fees of Ethereum are prompting serious discussions about why alternatives like Solana and Avalanche aren’t seeing more demand. If this trend continues, the narrative for ETH killers could become even more compelling next year.
Technically, there’s a noticeable divergence between AVAX’s rising prices and decreasing momentum. The weakening RSI suggests that if the trend doesn’t reverse, the approval of an ETF could lead to a “sell the news” event, as more investors crowd in with this expectation.
In a potential downside scenario, prices could drop to $33 and $31.5 in January, while the opposite scenario targets $90.
NEAR Coin, considered among the Sam coins and severely hit after the November 2022 crash, is finally recovering. Near Protocol has risen to $4.20, a more than 125% increase, aided by developments with Polygon Labs and partnerships with U.S.-based IDS Inc.
Here too, the RSI is in overbought territory and the price increase is slowing. In the early days and weeks of 2024, we might see a retracement towards $2.9. Closures below this could reverse the bullish sentiment.
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