Written by: Vince Dioquino
Translation: Plain Language Blockchain
After the overall recovery of the cryptocurrency market in November, the NFT market has heated up again.
According to CoinGecko's December data, the market capitalization in this field has reached $8.8 billion, an increase of 17.3% from last week. The same data shows a significant rise in trading volume: the total daily trading volume across the chain surged nearly 48% in the past 24 hours.
This trend continued the momentum from November. According to CryptoSlam's data, NFT sales in November reached $562 million. This figure is the highest level since sales approached $600 million in May of this year.
Notably, the number of independent buyers in November dropped to just 662,000, while this figure exceeded 1 million in May.
1. Blue-chip NFT Data Overview
Blue-chip NFT collections still maintain market dominance across all blockchains (including non-EVM chains). CoinGecko's NFT heatmap shows its current floor price at 42.99 ETH, approximately $159,000. This price has increased by nearly 5% in the past 24 hours and has risen by more than 14% in a week.
CryptoPunks also led the rebound in November, with trading volume reaching $49 million, an increase of 392% from October, achieved through only 388 transactions.
Despite the emergence of new NFT collections, CryptoPunks still holds a 40% market share, with a median transaction value of $114,131, indicating that this pioneering collectible remains attractive to serious collectors and investors.
Equally undeterred, 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 trading volume for this collection reached 1486 ETH, showing that whales and collectors are making significant bets.
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 30% growth in a week. Even Azuki, which is positioned as more accessible, has a floor price of 5.799 ETH and rose by 8.61% in a single day.
Currently, the three major collections of CryptoPunks, BAYC, and Pudgy Penguins account for 73% of market activity. Meanwhile, Ethereum remains the leader with November sales reaching $216 million, while Bitcoin is also noteworthy, experiencing a 99.44% increase during the month to reach $186 million.
According to data compiled by Dragonfly Capital analyst Hilldobby via Dune Analytics, in the NFT market of EVM chains, Blur leads 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 about 188,000 active traders completing over 2 million transactions. Notably, while Blur has a smaller user base of around 38,000 active traders, its users exhibit higher trading activity.
2. Long Gone from the 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 retreated from its peak of 2,494.74, depicting a market still searching for a new balance.
Despite recent platform innovations and institutional interest bringing 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 sector.
