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Why Stellar, Polkadot and NEAR Protocol Were 3 Of the Biggest Crypto Winners This Weekend
Stellar, Polkadot, and NEAR Protocol were the biggest crypto winners over the weekend, surging 45.9%, 33.2%, and 13.7% respectively. The catalysts behind these moves include a Grayscale filing showing 10% net inflows into the Stellar Lumens Trust, Polkadot's potential blockchain integration with Cardano, and NEAR Protocol's strong TVL growth and recent implementation of sharding. These token-specific catalysts, combined with marketwide macro drivers, have driven the prices of these cryptocurrencies higher, making them worth watching for investors.
One key differentiating factor of being a cryptocurrency investor is that the markets never close. This is a 24/7 game, with trading open at all hours -- and some of the biggest moves often take place during Asian trading hours.
The idea that money never sleeps is not lost on many traders with short-term positions in many tokens. And given the intense volatility in this sector, following the price action on even the most "stable" crypto projects isn't going to be possible for most investors (we have to sleep at some point).
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But for those doing a Sunday portfolio review, investors may notice that three of their potential holdings have skyrocketed since Friday's stock market close at 4 p.m. ET. Stellar (CRYPTO: XLM) , Polkadot (CRYPTO: DOT) , and NEAR Protocol (CRYPTO: NEAR) have surged 45.9%, 33.2% and 13.7%, respectively, as of 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, justifying a deeper look into what's driving these impressive moves.
Key catalysts to watch
Aside from marketwide macro drivers taking many tokens higher over the past weekend (the overall market capitalization of the entire crypto market continues to hover around an all-time high at $3.26 trillion), there are token-specific catalysts at play for each of these projects that investors certainly want to be aware of.
In the case of Stellar and its very impressive surge of more than 45% this weekend, there's a particular growth catalyst investors are paying close attention to right now. In particular, a filing from Grayscale in regards to its Stellar Lumens Trust has sent investors scrambling to ramp up leveraged positions on the XLM token (Stellar's native crypto).
In a 10-K filing on Friday, Grayscale announced that net inflows into the trust amounted to 10% over the past quarter, a number that clearly surprised the market. Investors looking for key fundamental catalysts as reasons to place bullish bets on top tokens are increasingly looking at supply and demand factors, with capital inflows into various investment vehicles remaining a key bellwether for how the market feels about a particular asset over a given period of time.
Polkadot's weekend rally appears to be a continuation of strong momentum seen from Wednesday, when it was announced that Polkadot is exploring a blockchain integration with Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) . Investors may note that Cardano's founder Charles Hoskinson has been tied to the Trump administration's plans to create the most crypto-friendly regulatory policies to date, so this tie-up is of particular interest to investors. Suppose Polkadot is able to reinforce its status as a leading network of connected blockchains, building this network with top-tier existing platforms like Cardano. In that case, growth expectations are likely to continue to improve. Investors appear to be pricing in much more significant network effects from this potential integration into the project's market capitalization, which currently sits at around $12 billion at the time of writing.
Finally, NEAR Protocol is a unique crypto project, in that this particular token has not only benefited from many of the marketwide catalysts driving most cryptos higher since the outcome of the election was announced earlier this month, but it's also a top cloud and AI beneficiary in the crypto sector benefiting from broader tech-related tailwinds. This project has seen particularly strong TVL growth over the past month, and recently implemented sharding on its network in September to improve efficiency. If users and developers continue to flock to this layer 1 network as a result of the various improvements the NEAR Protocol team has made to its network, fundamental growth could be the key catalyst driving this token higher in the coming weeks and months.
Bottom line
Stellar, Polkadot, and NEAR Protocol may be three crypto projects investors don't pay enough attention to. I'd put myself into this category. I follow these tokens, but they don't get enough love for the sort of behind-the-scenes work that can drive investor returns. Each project has unique catalysts that could propel continued momentum over time. I wouldn't be surprised to see these three tokens atop the list of weekly movers through the end of the year, given the quality of these catalysts.
Before you buy stock in Stellar, consider this: