Author: Vince Dioquino
Translation: Plain Language Blockchain
After the overall recovery of the cryptocurrency market in November, the NFT market is heating up again.
According to CoinGecko's December data, the market capitalization in this sector has reached $8.8 billion, a 17.3% increase from last week. The same data also shows a significant rise in trading volume: in the past 24 hours, daily trading volume across the chain surged by nearly 48%.
This trend continues the momentum from November. According to CryptoSlam data, NFT sales in November reached $562 million. This figure is the highest since nearly reaching $600 million in sales in May of this year.
Notably, the number of independent buyers in November dropped to just 662,000, while in May this figure exceeded 1 million.
1. Overview of Blue-chip NFT Data
Blue-chip NFT collections continue to dominate the market across all blockchains (including non-EVM chains). CoinGecko's NFT heatmap shows its current lowest price at 42.99 ETH, approximately $159,000. This price has increased nearly 5% in the past 24 hours and over 14% in the past week.
CryptoPunks also led the resurgence in November, with a trading volume of $49 million, an increase of 392% from October, achieved through just 388 transactions.
Despite the emergence of new NFT collections, CryptoPunks still holds 40% of the market share, with a median transaction value of $114,131, indicating this pioneering collection still retains its appeal among serious collectors and investors.
Not to be outdone, the price of Bored Ape Yacht Club remains firm at 21.27 ETH ($79,727), achieving an impressive 75.79% increase in a week, attracting attention from major trading platforms. In the past day, the total trading volume for this series reached 1,486 ETH, showing that whales and collectors are making substantial bets.
Market growth is not limited to traditional popular projects. As a dark horse in the blue-chip NFT space, Pudgy Penguins currently maintains a healthy floor price of 14.869 ETH (approximately $55,758), achieving nearly 30% growth in a week. Even the more accessible Azuki, with a floor price of 5.799 ETH, rose 8.61% in a single day.
Currently, the three major series—CryptoPunks, BAYC, and Pudgy Penguins—account for 73% of market activity. Meanwhile, Ethereum remains the leader, with sales of $216 million in November, while Bitcoin also made significant strides, increasing by 99.44% that month to reach $186 million.
According to data compiled by Dragonfly Capital analyst Hilldobby through Dune Analytics, Blur leads the NFT market on EVM chains with a trading volume of $271 million, followed closely by OpenSea with a trading volume of $161 million.
As for user habits, OpenSea remains the preferred marketplace for most, with approximately 188,000 active traders completing over 2 million transactions. Notably, although Blur has a smaller user base of about 38,000 active traders, its user transaction activity is higher.
2. No longer at its peak
Although recent NFT trading volumes show some signs of recovery, the CryptoSlam 500 NFT index tells a more realistic story, revealing the overall market trend. The current index stands at 1,135.04, a decrease of 53.77% from its peak, indicating that we are still far from the heyday when NFTs dominated cryptocurrency headlines and attracted mainstream attention.
This index tracks 500 smart contracts across 11 major blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, having significantly dropped from its peak of 2,494.74, depicting a market still seeking a new balance.
Despite recent platform innovations and institutional interest bringing some hope to the market, data indicates that the NFT market is still struggling to regain the explosive growth that once defined the space.
