NEAR Protocol Jumps 18.99% to $1.38 — Daily Movers Mar 3

NEAR Protocol jumped 18.99% to $1.38 on Monday, leading the day’s gainers and outpacing peers, according to CoinGecko data. The move lifted NEAR’s market cap to $1.78B and put the sharded layer-1 back on traders’ radar as several large caps posted mixed returns.

Top Gainers

NEAR Protocol rose 18.99% to $1.38, taking its market cap to $1.78B. NEAR runs a sharded proof-of-stake network using Nightshade and emphasizes a user-friendly account model and low-cost transactions. The ecosystem also includes Aurora, an EVM-compatible environment that allows Ethereum-style apps to deploy on NEAR. The rally put NEAR at the top of the leaderboard as liquidity flowed into higher-beta infrastructure plays.

Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) added 9.13% to $0.7601, bringing its market cap to $498.73M. No specific news has been tied to the move. The VIRTUAL token is associated with the Virtuals Protocol project and benefited from a stronger bid across mid-cap names.

Morpho (MORPHO) gained 8.64% to $1.91, with a market cap of $1.05B. Morpho builds lending-market infrastructure that optimizes rates on top of incumbent pools and introduced designs such as Morpho Blue for isolated markets. The token’s advance extended DeFi’s outperformance versus several smart-contract platforms during the session.

Ethena (ENA) climbed 7.52% to $0.1130, valuing the token at $929.20M. Ethena underpins a synthetic-dollar protocol built around delta-hedged positions and staked receipts, designed to maintain soft-dollar exposure via USDe and related mechanisms. Traders pointed to broader altcoin rotation as a tailwind for ENA after a muted stretch for majors.

See also: Hyperliquid bondit de 3,31 % à 31,89 $ tandis que HASH chute — Mouvements quotidiens du 2 mars.

Aave (AAVE) advanced 4.97% to $120.23, lifting its market cap to $1.82B. Aave remains one of the largest decentralized lending protocols, with V3 deployments across multiple chains and the GHO stablecoin integrated into its stack. The bounce kept blue-chip DeFi in positive territory even as several large-cap network tokens lagged.

Top Losers

POL (ex-MATIC) fell 5.84% to $0.1010, putting its market cap at $1.07B. POL is intended to replace MATIC as Polygon’s governance and staking asset as the ecosystem transitions its token standard. The drop contrasted with gains in DeFi and select L1s, suggesting rotation away from tokens tied to ongoing migrations.

Related coverage: Hyperliquid bondit de 14,07 % alors que les altcoins s'envolent — Mouvements quotidiens du 1er mars.

Stable (STABLE) slipped 4.68% to $0.0313, with a market cap of $642.32M. STABLE is the native token of the Stable project. No major headlines crossed for Stable during the session, and the coin trailed peers through the afternoon.

Polkadot (DOT) declined 4.42% to $1.49, taking its market cap to $2.50B. Polkadot connects application-specific parachains to a central relay chain and uses an on-chain governance system to upgrade without hard forks. The underperformance came as attention skewed toward higher-volatility DeFi names and away from several base-layer networks.

For further background, see: La Blockchain Provenance Bondit de 5,65% avec la Montée des Tokens adossés à l'Or — Mouvements du 28 Février.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) eased 3.15% to $0.000005, valuing the token at $3.20B. SHIB remains one of the largest memecoins by capitalization and has expanded its footprint with the Shibarium layer-2 and various burn campaigns. The move lower marked a pause for meme-related exposure while capital favored infrastructure and lending tokens.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) dipped 2.13% to $0.1062, for a market cap of $2.94B. WLFI is the native token of World Liberty Financial. Despite the pullback, the asset maintained a multibillion-dollar valuation as liquidity concentrated in other sectors.

Market Outlook

The spread between leaders and laggards was wide: the top gainer rose 18.99% while the biggest loser shed 5.84%. Gains clustered in DeFi and one major L1, with AAVE, MORPHO, ENA, and NEAR all green, while declines hit a token migration play and two large, established networks in POL, DOT, and SHIB.

Near term, traders will watch whether altcoin rotation persists and if Bitcoin’s direction sets the tone for mid-caps. Macro catalysts including the next U.S. jobs data and CPI print, plus any notable protocol releases or exchange listing changes, remain the key events on the calendar.