So far, 2024 has not been overall a great year for the NFT market, but in recent weeks we are witnessing a comeback in prices.
The best collections like BAYC, Crypto Punks, and Pudgy Penguins are experiencing an increase in both their respective floor price and total sales volumes.
Is it a signal of a restart for the NFT sector? Let’s delve deeper below.
The negative performance of the top NFT collections in 2024
Although in recent weeks we are about to talk about a price recovery, we must point out that throughout 2024 the NFT market has been in constant decline.
Since the burst of the bolla in 2022, after the value of the cryptographic JPEG industry reached 417 billion dollars, this market has not recovered.
Both the market capitalization and the sales volumes have gone through a long bear market up to the present day.
Since January 2024, there has been an acceleration of the bear trend, according to the data from Coinmarketcap in the section “Highest Price NFT Stats” (data up to July 2024).
In particular the capitalization of NFTs has decreased by approximately 48% going from 51.7 billion at the beginning of the year to the current 26.8 billion dollars.
Sales have literally plummeted in the same period going from 3.7 billion to 819 million dollars.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/categoria/nft/
The depression of 2024 mainly affected the major NFT collections on the market, such as the famous “Crypto Punks”, born in 2017 from the invention of Larva Labs.
Based on the data reported by the site “NFTPriceFloor,” these collectible pieces have almost halved their price (denominated in ETH) since January.
Their floor price has dropped from 52.9 ETH to the current 28.5 ETH, while the value in dollars has fallen from 128,000 dollars to approximately 70,000 dollars.
Think that at the height of their splendor, the Crypto Punks had reached a valuation per token of over 110 ETH.
Source: https://nftpricefloor.com/it/cryptopunks
The recent rally in NFT market prices
If we shorten the time horizons by focusing only on the last few weeks of trading, we notice that there is a price recovery in the NFT market
Starting from the Crypto Punks, which boast the primacy in the capitalization of the sector, we see a strong increase in quotations from August 20 onwards.
The floor price of the collection in just 8 days has increased by over 20%, going from 22.8 ETH to 28.5 ETH. Some sales in these days have even exceeded the price of 30 ETH.
This is a signal of strong return of interest for a market that has been completely abandoned in recent years.
The international tensions and the uncertainties on the macroeconomic front have not favored the emergence of this speculative asset class, but now the time for the comeback has arrived.
Source: https://nftpricefloor.com/it/cryptopunks
Not only for the Crypto Punks, the increase in prices in the NFT market has also affected other collections.
As reported by the marketplace Blur, almost all the top collections (some more, some less) have seen an increase in the floor price in the last 7 days.
Pudgy Penguins increased by 14.78% bringing the selling price to 10.79 ETH, while Bored Ape Yacht Club rose only by 2.18% to 13.09 ETH.
Excellent numbers for Azuki, which despite losing appeal, records an increase of 7.2% in price, rising to 4.91 ETH.
Mutan Ape, Lul Pudgys, Baby Bears e Doodle also offer positive performance despite the slight decline on the last trading day.
Only Milady is bucking the trend, marking a drop of 7.26% in 7 days: however, the collection has grown throughout 2024 contrary to the rest of the market, doubling its value in 8 months.
Source: https://blur.io/
Sales volumes on the rise in August
The recovery of NFT market prices that we are witnessing in recent days is accompanied in parallel by an increase in sales volumes.
Within decentralized platforms like Blur, OpenSea, Magic Eden and Element Market, trades have intensified rapidly.
As reported by the site “CryptoSlam”, almost all the top collections have had an increased sales volume in 30 days,
To highlight in particular the great success of Crypto Punks, Guild of Guardians, and DeGods, which during the period recorded a boost in sales of 134%, 185%, and 259% respectively.
The recovery of the NFT market is also visible on Sorare, coinciding with the start of the 2024/2025 football season, and on the famous BAYC managed by Yuga Labs.
Numbers still negative instead for the DogeZuki and Solana Monkey Business collections, as well as for NodeMonkes.
Source: https://www.cryptoslam.io/
Overall, the global sales volume of the NFT market has grown by 14% in 7 days, reaching 100 million dollars.
In total, there have been over 1.8 million on-chain transactions in this context, with an average of 55 dollars per sale.
The buyers were significantly more than the sellers, with 546,000 users who bought from another 257,000 individuals.
The blockchains of Ethereum, Solana and Bitcoin are the most chosen by users to trade NFTs with over 60% of the market share of volumes.
The hope for NFT traders is that the recovery of the last week can trigger a prolonged rally in market prices, and that it does not fade from here on out.