Namecoin (NMC) may finally be getting a break after what seemed to many traders as an interminable 7 months of bleeding to start 2014.

It has turned in respectable performances during August (despite the market volatility) and September, and held its ground thus far in October. By a “respectable performance”, we aren’t referring to those multifold, fasten-your-seatbelt, to-the-moon-and-maybe-even-further pumps we saw in late 2013 and earlier this year. We mean holding ground during volatile periods in the summer and lengthy periods of steady decline in the fall.

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It is the first 3-month period this year where the coin did not experience a net loss. The behavior suggests that we’ve possibly reached the other end of a bottoming-out phase. Not that a return to the glory days is imminent- or even possible- but that some of the losses can be recouped.

NMC is currently trading at 0.0026 BTC, or $0.88, on BTC-e.

Namecoin does have several things working in its favor, absent from most of the myriad of altcoins out there. Its units do tie to something of tangible value, namely the registration of decentralized domain names. While the value of these commodities remains uncertain today, this may change in the future if demand increases. In any event, it has more to offer than just being another currency.

Also unlike most altcoins in 2014, NMC’s declines (at least vs BTC) have been tempered. It is (only) off by 64% year-to-date, a better performance than most alts including Litecoin, and comparable to Bitcoin itself.

Earlier this month, it made its closest approach to overcoming its (bitcoin-denominated) 200-day moving average (MA) in months, coming within 4.5%.

The catch is that in USD terms, NMC is still in the pits. Like Bitcoin and Litecoin, it is hanging around 2014 lows (Namecoin’s 2014 low is $0.73). The disparity between BTC and USD-based performance arises from a weakening bitcoin price. In USD terms, NMC has indeed shed 90% this year.

Namecoin currently ranks 8th in market cap.