Solana (SOL) has experienced an impressive 95% increase in December, surpassing its rival Ether (ETH), which only saw a 9.5% rise during the same period.
Solana’s dominance in the market can be attributed to various factors this month. However, there are three major tokens that have outperformed Solana as the year comes to a close.
Avalanche (AVAX), the tenth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has outperformed Solana in December, rising by 104.75% month-to-date (MTD) to reach around $44. This significant increase in AVAX’s price occurred after the unlocking of 9.54 million AVAX tokens in late November, indicating that the market absorbed the additional supply without negatively impacting its value.
This suggests a strong demand for AVAX, particularly in light of Ethereum’s rising gas costs in December. At the beginning of the month, Avalanche’s median gas cost was $0.051 per transaction, while Ethereum’s was $4.66.
From a technical perspective, there is a noticeable divergence between AVAX’s rising prices and declining momentum. The cryptocurrency’s price has formed higher highs, while its daily relative strength index (RSI) has made lower highs throughout December, indicating a bearish divergence. This suggests that AVAX’s bull run may be approaching exhaustion, and its price could potentially drop towards the support confluence near $33 and the 50-day exponential moving average (50-day EMA) around $31.50 by the beginning of January 2024.
Near Protocol (NEAR) has seen a surge of over 125% MTD to $4.20. This increase coincided with a 350% rally of NEKO, a memecoin project associated with Near Protocol, which gained significant traction in December. Strategic partnerships, such as the one with Polygon Labs for developing zkWASM and with US-based IDS Inc., have also contributed to the success of the Near Protocol project.
Technically, NEAR’s weekly RSI is currently overbought, indicating bullish exhaustion that could result in a consolidation or correction. Therefore, NEAR’s price may correct towards its June-October 2022 support level of around $2.90 by early January 2024. A decisive close below $2.90 could potentially lead to a test of the 50-week EMA around $2.18 as the next downside target.
Injective Protocol (INJ) has experienced a rally of over 108% MTD to $38.30. This increase is partly due to the broader boom in artificial intelligence (AI) tokens, as Injective Protocol integrates AI with decentralized finance (DeFi) as a layer-1 blockchain. Additionally, the rise in the price of INJ tokens can be attributed to the trend among airdrop farmers who actively move between different blockchains to collect newly-issued token airdrops. Several projects built on Injective Protocol have confirmed plans for airdrops, generating anticipation and interest in INJ tokens.
Like NEAR, INJ also faces the risk of correction due to its excessively overbought status. The cryptocurrency’s three-day RSI reading has been above 70 throughout December, and its price is currently near a multi-month ascending trendline resistance around $42. This increases the likelihood of a correction or consolidation in the near future. A pullback from the ascending trendline resistance could lead to a decline towards INJ’s ascending trendline support near $18, which has previously served as resistance in November 2023 and September 2021.
It is important to note that this article does not provide investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading decisions involve risk, and readers should conduct their own research before making a decision.