NEAR Protocol [NEAR] has rallied 11.5% in the past 24 hours at press time and was drawing speculative interest too. The gains inspired derivatives traders to go long on NEAR contracts, as evidenced by the 11.6% increase in Open Interest (OI) in a day. Yet, while the OI climbed higher, the funding rate has fallen back toward neutral levels, according to Coinalyze data. The rising Funding Rate on the 31st of May and the early hours of the 1st of June reflected aggressive longs.