NEAR Protocol (NEAR) is 1.9× the size of Bittensor (TAO) by market capitalisation. Over the past 1 year, NEAR is ahead by 120.1 percentage points (TAO -43.0% against NEAR +77.1%). Their daily returns move loosely together (correlation 0.51 across 399 shared trading days). Both have run at a similar volatility, around 103% annualised.
TAONEAR
0.51over 399 shared trading days
Measured on daily returns rather than on prices. Two assets that both simply trend upward score near 1.0 on raw prices whether or not they move together, so returns are what answer the question people mean by correlation.
| Metric | TAO | NEAR |
|---|---|---|
| Max drawdown (400d) | -70.7% | -68.7% |
| Risk-adjusted return (90d) | 0.11 | 1.01 |
| Best 30 days (past year) | +104.1% | +195.3% |
| Worst 30 days (past year) | -48.1% | -48.1% |
Relative strength over 90 days: NEAR outperformed TAO by 52.4% — measured on the TAO/NEAR ratio, so it holds regardless of market direction.