Written by: Vince Dioquino
Translation: Vernacular Blockchain
After an overall recovery in the cryptocurrency market in November, the NFT market has once again heated up.
According to CoinGecko data from December, the market value 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: the daily trading volume across all chains surged nearly 48% in the past 24 hours.
This trend continued the excitement of November. According to CryptoSlam data, NFT sales in November reached $562 million. This figure is the highest since nearly $600 million in sales in May 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 collectibles continue to maintain market dominance across all blockchains (including non-EVM chains). CoinGecko's NFT heatmap shows that its current lowest price is 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 transaction volume of $49 million, an increase of 392% from October, achieved through just 388 transactions.
Despite the emerging NFT collections, CryptoPunks still holds 40% of the 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 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 transaction volume of this series reached 1,486 ETH, showing that whales and collectors are betting heavily.
Market 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 has achieved nearly a 30% increase in a week. Even Azuki, positioned as more affordable, has a floor price of 5.799 ETH, rising 8.61% in a single day.
Currently, the three major series of CryptoPunks, BAYC, and Pudgy Penguins account for 73% of market activity. Meanwhile, Ethereum remains dominant, with sales reaching $216 million in November, while Bitcoin is also noteworthy, growing by 99.44% that month to $186 million.
According to data compiled by Dragonfly Capital analyst Hilldobby through Dune Analytics, Blur leads the NFT market on EVM chains with $271 million in transaction volume, followed closely by OpenSea with $161 million.
As for user habits, OpenSea remains the preferred market for most, with about 188,000 active traders completing over 2 million transactions. Notably, while Blur has a smaller user base of about 38,000 active traders, its user trading activity is higher.
2. No longer at its peak
Despite recent signs of recovery in NFT trading volume, the CryptoSlam 500 NFT index tells a more realistic story, revealing the overall trend of the market. Currently, the index is at 1,135.04, down 53.77% from its peak, indicating that we are still far from the time 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 retreated from its peak of 2,494.74, depicting a market still searching for a new balance.
Although recent platform innovations and institutional interest have brought a glimmer of hope to the market, data indicates that the NFT market is still struggling to regain the explosive growth that once defined the field.
