Near Protocol Price Forecast: NEAR extends rebound as Ethereum revives AI economy buzz

• Near Protocol breaks above $3.00 resistance as bulls aim to extend breakout to $3.80.
• Near Protocol believes traditional finance is not suited for AI agents, with crypto more likely to enable the AI economy.
• NEAR maintains a bullish outlook, positioned above the 50-day, 100-day and 200-day EMAs.

Near Protocol (NEAR) has extended its short-term bullish outlook, trading above the $3.00 level on Friday as prices in the broader cryptocurrency market decline due to rising volatility. The token at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology is signaling bullishness, with a likelihood of extending its momentum toward the resistance at $3.80.

NEAR Protocol shifts focus to AI agent infrastructure 

Near Protocol is among the projects leading the on-chain AI economy, having branded itself "the blockchain of AI." The ecosystem has developed products, such as Shade Agents, which enable autonomous bots to access and interact with various blockchains while ensuring data remains private.

According to Alex Shevchenko, the former NEAR Protocol product manager and current CEO of Aurora Labs, "the traditional financial system is not suited for AI agents, so there is a high chance that crypto would enable the AI economy. Another use case is AI research."

AI continues to shape the futures of many sectors globally and ecosystems like Near Protocol are charting the path for decentralized AI networks and agents through confidential machine learning.

The largest smart contracts platform, Ethereum, recently  a dedicated team to support the development of the AI economy and a decentralized AI stack on the network.

"Ethereum makes AI more trustworthy, and AI makes Ethereum more useful[…]. Ethereum benefits by becoming that layer, and AI benefits by escaping lock-in to a few centralized platforms," Davide Crapis, the AI lead at the Ethereum Foundation, stated.

Technical outlook: Near Protocol extends bullish momentum 

Near Protocol bulls remain largely in control at the time of writing on Friday, although the price has pulled back from its intraday high of $3.34. The breakout was built on strong macro signals following the United States (US) Federal Reserve's (Fed) 25-basis-point interest rate cut to a range of 4.00% to 4.25%. Additionally, buzz around the AI economy in the cryptocurrency sector has helped.

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator's buy signal, which has been sustained since September 8, underpins the bullish outlook. Investors are likely to increase their exposure with the blue MACD line holding above the red signal line.

The 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $2.64 is on the verge of confirming a Golden Cross pattern if it settles above the 100-day EMA at $2.62. A Golden Cross is a bullish pattern, indicating improving risk-on sentiment. Therefore, its presence on the daily chart could strengthen the bullish case for NEAR and increase the potential for the uptrend to extend to $3.38, the next key resistance level.

NEAR/USDT daily chart

Still, traders must be cautious, as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is positioned in the overbought region at 72. An extremely overbought RSI is often a precursor to sudden pullbacks as investors book profits, which can contribute to potential selling pressure. Hence, there's a need for traders to prepare for the possibility of a correction to the 200-day EMA at $2.86, the 50-day EMA at $2.64 and the 100-day EMA at $2.62.