After an overall recovery in the cryptocurrency market in November, the NFT market has warmed up again.
According to CoinGecko's December data, the sector's market capitalization has reached $8.8 billion, a 17.3% increase from last week. The same data shows that trading volume has also surged: the total daily trading volume across all chains skyrocketed by nearly 48% in the past 24 hours.
This trend continued the enthusiasm of November. According to data from CryptoSlam, NFT sales in November reached $562 million. This figure is the highest since nearly $600 million in sales in May of this year.
It is noteworthy that the number of independent buyers in November dropped to only 662,000, while this figure exceeded 1 million in May.
1. Overview of blue-chip NFT data
Blue-chip NFT collections continue to maintain market dominance 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 risen nearly 5% in the past 24 hours and over 14% in a week.
CryptoPunks also led the recovery in November, with a trading volume of $49 million, a 392% increase from October, achieved through only 388 transactions.
Despite emerging NFT collections, CryptoPunks still holds a 40% market share, with a median transaction value of $114,131, indicating that this pioneering collectible still retains its appeal among serious collectors and investors.
Not to be outdone, the price of the Bored Ape Yacht Club remains strong 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 of this collection reached 1,486 ETH, indicating that whales and collectors are making significant bets.
The market's growth is not limited to traditional hot 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) and achieved nearly 30% growth in a week. Even the more affordable Azuki, with a floor price of 5.799 ETH, saw an increase of 8.61% in a single day.
Currently, the three major collections, CryptoPunks, BAYC, and Pudgy Penguins, account for 73% of market activity. Meanwhile, Ethereum remains the dominant player, with sales reaching $216 million in November, while Bitcoin also saw significant growth, increasing by 99.44% in the same month to reach $186 million.
According to data compiled by Dragonfly Capital analyst Hilldobby through Dune Analytics, Blur led the NFT market on EVM chains with a transaction volume of $271 million, followed closely by OpenSea with a transaction volume of $161 million.
As for user habits, OpenSea remains the preferred market for most, with around 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 trading activity is significantly 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 direction of the market. Currently, the index stands at 1,135.04, down 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, and has significantly declined 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 sector.
