Give Your Cryptocurrency Wallet a Check: Your NFTs Could Be More Valuable Now

Check Your Wallets: Your NFTs Might Not Be So Worthless Anymore

After several months of stories spreading like wildfire with enthusiastic headlines about the apparent “worthlessness” of most NFTs, there are finally concrete indications that the dwindling NFT market is experiencing a revival.

Sales have been consistently increasing in recent weeks, with trading volume in October rising 32% over September and daily trading volumes showing improvement each of the past few days. Notably, the prices of prominent NFTs are surging, and it’s not just because of the escalating crypto prices. Yes, individuals are indeed spending hefty amounts on JPEG illustrations of rocks.

Are we on the path to recovery? Perhaps, but not so fast. Although these signs of excitement are beginning to stir up traders once more, the sales figures and prices are still far from the levels observed in 2021 and early 2022 when NFTs were generating billions of dollars in monthly sales.

However, after a challenging year and a half for NFTs, both the numbers and the broader sentiment are finally taking a positive turn. If you have NFTs idling in your wallet, they might now be considerably more valuable than they were in previous months.

Prices are Increasing

The cryptocurrency market is heating up once again. Bitcoin has experienced a 38% surge over the last 30 days, currently priced above $37,000—more than double its price from this time last year. Similarly, Ethereum has observed a 33% increase, with some altcoins registering even more substantial gains.

The escalating crypto prices are contributing to the rise in NFT prices; however, it’s not the entire story. For instance, some of the most significant NFT projects have witnessed an uptick in floor prices, which is the price of the cheapest listed NFT on a marketplace.

In terms of U.S. dollars, the floor price of CryptoPunks has risen 82% over the past 30 days to approximately $125,500, the floor price of Bored Ape Yacht Club has increased by 67% to $65,000, and Azuki NFTs have surged by a staggering 107% to $13,200. However, in Ethereum (ETH) terms, Punks have risen by 31%, Apes by 25%, and Azuki assets by 48%.

In essence, the owners of those NFTs are seeking significantly more ETH than one month ago, and the value of that ETH has also experienced a considerable jump. If you explore the NFT Price Floor, a tracker for NFT values, almost all of the top 50 collections by total market cap, except for two, have recorded gains in USD prices over the past 30 days.

While there are numerous projects that might not realize substantial gains, and some may never regain their “blue-chip” status, if tokenized rock illustrations can be sold for $100,000 or more and imitation “Simpsons” NFTs can generate millions of dollars’ worth of trades, it’s anyone’s guess which projects will next capture attention.

Sales are Also on the Rise

The escalating prices would be of little significance if there weren’t buyers for the NFTs

As reported, data resource DappRadar noted a 32% month-over-month surge in NFT sales, leaping from $306 million in September to $405 million in October.

Moreover, according to on-chain data on Dune collected by data analyst Hildobby, daily NFT trading volume has climbed for five consecutive days this week, reaching a new three-month peak exceeding $24 million on Thursday. There’s also a larger number of traders in the mix, with Tuesday seeing the largest number of unique wallets for a solitary day in at least three months at 16,615.

“The rising price of crypto along with grail NFTs selling has pushed the average NFT sale price up to $195.65 today. That’s the highest we’ve seen in 238 days, when we saw an average sale price of $197.03 on March 16. ⚡️”
– CryptoSlam! (@cryptoslamio) November 9, 2023

An analysis of sales data from CryptoSlam reveals substantial increases in trading activity for popular NFT collections. Bored Ape trading is up 140% in the past 30 days to $35.7 million, with CryptoPunks up by a whopping 1755% to $25.3 million, and Gods Unchained NFT trading cards rising nearly 22% to $19.4 million during that period.

Nevertheless, not everything is entirely positive. DraftKings NFT trading for its Reignmakers fantasy game has decreased by 40% over the past month to $11.7 million, while Sorare NFT card trading has diminished by nearly 7% in the last month to $11.5 million. Additionally, trading on the Ethereum scaling network Polygon has plummeted by a substantial 58% over the past 30 days, as per CryptoSlam.

On the whole, NFT trading is on the rise. According to CryptoSlam’s data, there has been a 22% increase in trading volume over the past 30 days for the projects and chains tracked by the platform.

Vibes are Returning

After well over a year of overall decline for both crypto prices and NFT sales, these recent positive signs and signs of resurgence are generating excitement across the market. Crypto Twitter is teeming with long-time traders fueling the flames of enthusiasm over substantial NFT purchases, heightened engagement, and the prospect of greater gains ahead.

However, it’s not all positive vibes. OpenSea, long the leading marketplace for NFTs until earlier this year, laid off half of its team last Friday and reportedly had its valuation slashed by nearly 90% by investor Coatue. Moreover, last weekend, attendees of ApeFest Hong Kong—the exclusive festival for Bored Ape NFT holders—complained of eye pain, apparently due to the use of the wrong type of UV lights.

Context is also crucial. While a 32% month-over-month increase in NFT trading volume is a positive sign, October’s $405 million tally is still a far cry from the approximately $5 billion traded during the peak month of January 2022. Additionally, the —$65,000 floor price for Bored Apes falls well short of the peak of $429,000 worth of ETH from April 2022.

Similarly, Bitcoin is still down 46% from its peak price in November 2021. On the other hand, the price of Bitcoin has more than doubled since this time last year. It’s all relative.

While we are still a long way from the frenzy of the initial NFT boom and the peak of the crypto trading craze, things are in motion, and there’s excitement abound. If you acquired some NFTs during the hype cycle, it’s worthwhile to revisit them—they might not be so worthless anymore.

Edited by Guillermo Jimenez