Altcoin rotation heats up as NEAR surges 28.5%, HYPE hits record high, and BTC holds tight range!

Bitcoin continues to trade in a narrow $76,000–$78,000 band, but the lack of directional volatility in the majors is funneling speculative capital into select altcoins. AI tokens led Friday's action: NEAR Protocol jumped 28.5% and FET gained 11.4% in 24 hours, with NEAR futures open interest hitting a record 282.53 million tokens — validated by positive cumulative volume delta and healthy funding rates, a clean signal of aggressive buying rather than passive accumulation.

HYPE, the native token of perpetual exchange HyperLiquid, extended its barnstorming week with a roughly 60% rally since Tuesday, reaching a new all-time high. The move was driven by heavy short liquidations and institutional participation following the launch of U.S. spot ETFs this month. CoinMarketCap's altcoin season indicator climbed from 31 to 38 out of 100 on the back of that momentum.

On the derivatives side,…