For the Love of the Game (Market Commentary) |
NFTs, are they actually back this time, or are they just dressing up as a bull for Halloween?
Life seems to have returned to NFTs, both in sales and in the way people are talking about them. Fueled by bitcoin’s mega bullish ‘Uptober’, fantastic art sales in NFTs, Blur’s Season 2 rewards end date announcement, and traders throttling back on SoFi platforms, these events combined are driving traders back to
NFTs. FriendTech had kept traders busy for the past two months, but now is struggling to keep their attention, with key trading volume falling off drastically ever since security concerns were reported by the community in early October. Once users had a reason to look elsewhere for their degen needs, they turned right back to NFTs and other SoFi platforms like Stars Arena and New Bitcoin City. But NFT activity really started ramping back up on 10/9 when Blur announced November 20th as the end of point rewards farming. The market got a few additional
pumps from fake bitcoin ETF approval news on 10/16, followed by tangible reports on 10/20 that ETF approvals are imminent.
NFTs move on news, and a steady stream of positive stories is giving the market some serious momentum. In the past week, that momentum has driven multiple NFT collections like Michelin and trip.com to sell out their primary sales, a nearly impossible feat in the bear market. Equally as impressive is Zynga’s SugarTown Oras, who maintained the value of their NFTs after their art was
revealed. If you’re active in NFTs, you know just how rare of a feat this is.
That same momentum extended to the global NFT markets. Last week was the second consecutive week of increased sales in NFTs, which is something we haven’t seen since the beginning of August. Sales are up 25% from the year’s low of $55m just two weeks ago, and nearly all metrics saw a similar increase. Wash sales even got in on the
action with over $33.5m in sales, its highest weekly total since $53.9m on the week of August 14, and up 99% from $16.9m on the week of Oct 2. Last week’s sales represent a 5 week high for the NFT market, and was capped
off by Friday’s $11.1m in sales, the highest day of global NFT sales since Sept 20. Some caution is warranted by NFT traders, though. If the NFT market is largely moving because of bitcoin’s Uptober, you should be aware that 4
of the past 5 years saw the price of $BTC tumble in November. Still, even if bitcoin does falter, we’re primed for a big year in the blockchain in 2024, with traders who have shown us that they’re still very active, engaged, and ready to turn on the trading faucet at the drop of news. NFTs are not back yet, but the hot crypto market will soon bring about a thaw. - DMarket again is the king of NFTs with over $9.2m in sales, primarily from Counterstrike gaming skins.
- Gods Unchained saw 46% increase in transactions, with hype building ahead of the highly anticipated Season 2 launch on October
25.
- $SATS BRC-20s saw major sales this week, including Bitcoin’s top Ordinals sale this week, a $47k bundle that sold on 10/20.
- Winds of Yawanawa continues to be a powerhouse art collection, and will see 10% of the week’s $2.2m in sales going to
the Yawanawa tribe as a royalty.
- The Captainz NFTs from 9gag are on fire this week, with sales up +230%, and transactions +186% as collectors want in on their upcoming $MEME coin
action.
- Ethereum is green across
the board, and crossed the $40m threshold for the first time in 5 weeks.
- Mythos Chain is again seeing 99% of its volume coming from gaming skins on DMarket.
- Solana’s Solcasino gambling platform traded for over $989k, pushing its blockchain into the #3 spot, and well ahead of the rest.
- Bitcoin is perhaps primed to recover faster than other chains, with $BTC being the focus of investors around the world, and mass adoption to the
blockchain likely coming through Bitcoin.
- Panini is in the Top Ten this week with sales volume up over 303%, thanks to red hot NFL NFT trading
action.
- Art is the hot topic in NFTs lately. William Mapan’s Sketchbook sold out at 6.9
ETH, MILK’s NAMI hit .5 ETH on secondary, XCopy announced just his 2nd NFT mint of the year, and Jack Butcher is teasing an Opepen x SnowFro collab.
- Azuki average sales prices have hit a 3 month high of $9k thanks to hype from their upcoming Azuki Garden Tour community events. Each of the 5 events will have
open edition NFTs to mint.
- SugarTown Oras art revealed and accomplished something few collections manage to do. Maintain the same floor price as before the art
reveal.
- Big brands came into Web3 last week and sold out their collections within days. Michelin’s 3xplorer
mint sold out at .05 ETH and then hit a .15 ETH floor on secondary, while trip.com’s Trekki NFTs sold out at .09 ETH.
- Nifty Gateway and Sam Spratt are releasing open source code for his monumental “The
Monument Game” NFT, that sold for $1.85m across 256 player NFTs and the iconic 1/1 NFT.
The Forkast 500 NFT Index is down -0.86% in the past 7 days, but recent developments in crypto have me thinking that green is in our future. I’m not predicting any significant changes, but with prices of crypto increasing, the value of NFTs increases right along with it. That is,
until traders have to lower their NFT listing prices to attract buyers. Have a MEGA GMs, and don’t forget to enjoy the ride here in Web3. |
From Charles Schwab:
“ETFs or “exchange-traded funds” are exactly as the name implies: funds that trade on exchanges,
generally tracking on a specific index. When you invest in an ETF, you get a bundle of assets you can buy and sell during market hours - potentially lowering your risk and exposure, while helping you diversify your portfolio.” With bitcoin ETFs seemingly arriving soon, now is the time to dive into what they are and how they are used. Mass adoption to bitcoin is coming, and you’ll want to be ready. Happy researching! Received this from a friend? Sign up for this twice-a-week CryptoSlam VIP newsletter. |
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