NEAR’s price performance as a case study of the ‘Coinbase Effect’

On 10 August, Coinbase, one of the world’s leading exchanges, announced the inclusion of NEAR on its listing roadmap. This suggested that the altcoin is now among the assets that the exchange plans to make available on its platform.

Following the said announcement, NEAR quickly rallied on the charts, posting a 12% intraday rally. It even traded at a high of $6, before exchanging hands at $5.89 at press time.

Now, listing a crypto on Coinbase typically leads to a price rally. However, does a potential listing have similar effects?

Is the Coinbase effect a myth?

Since the aforementioned announcement, NEAR’s price has only risen by 6%. In July, the general market bullish retracement caused the alt to appreciate by 28%.  Before the announcement, NEAR had already rallied by 25%. Sequel to the buzz surrounding Coinbase’s intention to list the token, the price of the alt went up by 12% during intraday trade.

However, with a value of $5.89 at press time, NEAR’s price had shrunk back to the zone it held before the announcement. 

Furthermore, on 11 August, NEAR saw significant trading activity. As a result of Coinbase’s announcement, intraday trading volume on the network rallied to a high of 847 million on the said date.

However, before the close of the trading day, trading activity started to wane. At the time of writing, trading volume on the network stood at 244.56 million – Dropping by over 200% in just four days.

NEAR might not be the problem

When assessing whether a potential listing on Coinbase can help drive up the price of a coin, it is pertinent to look at Ooki Protocol’s OOKI. It was also added to the exchange’s listing roadmap on 12 August. Exchanging hands for as high as $0.0087 following the announcement, it saw an intraday rally of 29%.

Trading at $0.007658 at press time, the altcoin has shed 11% of its gains since the aforementioned date. Also, the altcoin’s trading volume made significant strides over the last two days. Even so, it soon started to wane on the charts. 

In a 2021 report titled “Analyzing the Crypto Exchange Pump Phenomenon,” Roberto Talamas of Messari analyzed the performance of some tokens within the first five days of listing on Coinbase. Talamas found that when tokens are listed on Coinbase, they record an average price growth of 91% in the first five days of listing. 

 He, however, concluded,

“Coinbase listing has the potential to have a positive impact on asset returns, it doesn’t affect all tokens in the same way.”

When NEAR gets listed, the price boom is expected to be ephemeral. Just like previous coins listed on the exchange, a price drop-down is expected to follow a few days after the listing.