The non-fungible token (NFT) market has lost nearly half its value in the past 30 days, even as trading activity picked up in October.
Data from CoinGecko shows that the global NFT market capitalization fell from about $6.6 billion on October 5 to $3.5 billion on Wednesday, a 45% drop in just 30 days. The slump comes despite a surge in sales in October, which briefly lifted blue chip rock bottom prices.
Data from CryptoSlam shows that NFTs recorded sales of approximately $631 million in October, up 13% from $556 million in September. Bitcoin and Base NFTs have shown resilience over the past 30 days, with gains of 9% and 24% respectively.
Players such as BNB Chain and Polygon saw the largest declines, 82% and 86% respectively. Ethereum, the largest network by NFT sales volume, saw a 25.5% decline over the past 30 days, while Solana, Immutable and Avalanche fell 31% to 35%.
30-day sales volume via blockchain. Source: CryptoSlam
Blue chip volatility highlights vulnerable NFT valuations
NFT Price Floor data showed that the latest market correction hit even the most established NFT collections.
Over the past 30 days, CryptoPunks saw a 40% drop in trading volume, with the floor price dropping from approximately $214,000 on October 5 to $117,000 on November 5.
Moonbirds saw a similar retracement, with volume falling 63% and rock bottom prices more than halving from $14,700 to $6,500 over the same period.
Meanwhile, some collections saw higher volumes, but still a decline in valuations.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Pudgy Penguins both saw volume increases of 30% and 83% respectively, yet their rock bottom prices fell dramatically. BAYC’s bottom prices fell from $36,700 to $19,500, while Pudgy Penguins fell from $43,000 to $18,340.
The gap between trading and sales volume is widening, and valuations highlight how liquidity in the NFT market remains speculative and sensitive to broader crypto sentiment.
Related: The NFT markets are recovering after losing $1.2 billion in Friday’s crypto crash
Major players are going beyond NFTs
While NFTs are cooling off, major industry players are recalibrating.
In October, digital aggregator OpenSea, which has dominated the market with more than 522,000 traders over the past 30 days, said it was expanding into a universal onchain trading hub.
While the company is now focused on everything on-chain, it rejected the claim that it would run from NFTs.
Meanwhile, Animoca Brands, another leader in the NFT space, confirmed its plans to list on Nasdaq, signaling how traditional capital markets are starting to recognize Web3 gaming and metaverse companies even as secondary NFT markets shrink.
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