NEAR Protocol logged $197.55 million in 24-hour decentralized exchange volume as of October 1, 2026, narrowly surpassing Avalanche's $193.92 million, according to DefiLlama's chain rankings for spot DEX data.

The single-day flip places NEAR ahead of one of the longest-established smart contract networks in on-chain trading activity. The margin is thin — roughly $3.6 million — but the drivers behind it point to structural changes in how trading volume is being routed across chains.

What is powering NEAR's volume?

Much of the activity traces back to NEAR Intents, the network's intent-based trading architecture. Instead of manually plotting each step of a trade, a user states the desired outcome and the system determines how to deliver it.

NEAR Intents has processed more than $31 billion in cumulative DEX volume, according to the research findings. Daily volume through the system reportedly topped $300 million at its peak in mid-to-late September 2026.

That context matters. The $197.55 million figure that overtook Avalanche actually sits below the recent high, suggesting the ranking result reflects a sustained level of throughput rather than a one-off spike.

How do TVL and liquidity projects factor in?

NEAR's native-chain total value locked has recently moved in a range of approximately $194 million to $230 million. That growth has been tied to rising interest in liquidity projects such as Rhea Finance, along with liquid staking protocols across the ecosystem.

Advances in privacy features within NEAR's intent mechanisms have reportedly drawn activity connected to Zcash, adding a privacy-oriented flow to the mix.

The NEAR token posted roughly 78% weekly gains in mid-to-late September 2026, according to reports cited in the research.

What does the intent model signal for market structure?

NEAR's trajectory has leaned heavily on the intent model — a bet that most users do not want to think about routing, bridges or liquidity pools. The $31 billion in cumulative volume suggests a meaningful number of users agree with that premise.

For protocol operators, the implication is operational rather than cosmetic. Chains that abstract execution away from the user are capturing routing decisions that previously belonged to manual traders and aggregators, consolidating order flow behind intent-solver infrastructure.

For Avalanche, the ranking loss is narrow and does not indicate deterioration. Its $193.92 million in daily volume remains substantial, and losing a single-day comparison by a small margin says more about NEAR's rise than about Avalanche's underlying activity levels.

What comes next?

A chain that has cleared daily intent volume above $300 million, holds TVL in the $194 million to $230 million range, and attracts privacy-linked flows tied to Zcash presents an ecosystem with several engines running simultaneously. DefiLlama remains the primary public source for these chain-level DEX comparisons, and whether NEAR holds its position above Avalanche across consecutive daily readings will be the metric to watch as intent-based routing continues to reshape on-chain volume distribution.