Nearly $36 Million Flowed Into This Altcoin ETF on Day One!

Bitwise’s NEAR ETF saw $35.5 million in net inflows on its first day of trading, while Santiment noted that futures positions denominated in NEAR had shrunk despite the price rise.

According to data Santiment attributed to Bitwise, the fund, ticker NRR, began trading on NYSE Arca on September 29. The first-day net inflow figure offered an initial indication of demand for the new ETF.

Futures positions declined as the price rose

Open interest denominated in NEAR—that is, the token equivalent of outstanding futures contracts—peaked at around 215 million NEAR on September 21. By September 29, when the ETF began trading, that amount had fallen to around 169 million NEAR. That was a decline of about 21% from the peak.

Santiment said that despite the price rise from September 16 to 29, the size of positions denominated in NEAR on launch day was also slightly below the September 16 level. According to the platform, spot investors making direct purchases also stepped in on the ETF’s first day of trading.

Why did the picture look different in dollar terms?

Open interest in dollar terms rose to around $1.05 billion on September 27. At that point, the amount of open interest denominated in NEAR was about 9% below its previous peak.

The token’s price accounts for the difference between the two measures: open interest denominated in NEAR is calculated by dividing its dollar value by the price. As a result, the dollar value can rise while the token equivalent falls. Santiment interprets this pattern as a reduction in leveraged positions before the ETF began trading.