NFT Collections Break Free From Crypto Winter

Floor prices and sale prices shoot up despite uncertainty in the sector

Last week we reported on the mass BAYC and CryptoPunks sell-off, as users looked to free up liquidity and weather the crypto winter. Now, it seems buyers are flooding back into the market as prices have begun to climb again. We’ll need more time and data to judge whether this is a false dawn or the beginning of a more stable period.

7-day metrics climb off the floor

Across the NFT market, floor prices, average sale prices, and trading volumes have increased for the majority of collections.

The following collections saw their floor price increase by more than 25%:

Click on the links above to explore these collections in depth.

The image above shows the top 10 collections by trading volume. For the first time in a while, we can see a sea of green showing their week-on-week performance has improved.

Why the spike in prices?

There is no single cause for the rise in on-chain metrics. But there are a few obvious reasons for why prices and sales volumes have gone up.

Firstly, the price of ETH is up 2.3% in the past week. While this isn’t a huge increase, the fact that most of the top collections are denominated in ETH means its inflated price will have played a role in the activity we’re seeing. 

Secondly, NFT flipping is on the rise. Now that 0% fees are available, NFT flipping is becoming a viable way to make quick, small profits. With each flip, and profit, prices increase by a modest amount. Combined, these small amounts accumulate and collection prices rise.

For example 63% of the BAYC, BAKC and MAYC ‘trades were unique NFTs that hadn’t already traded in the week.’ This the lowest this number has ever been, showing that short-term flips are the highest they’ve ever been. It seems the experienced whales are out there making profits in a crisis.

Thirdly, the hike in activity might signal that last week’s sell-offs and price drops were the bottom of the market for exclusive collections. As the fallout from the fraud at FTX continued to course through the Web3 system, panicked holders wanted liquidity and they escaped to more stable assets. 

With the depressed prices, people saw opportunities for bargains. Demand went up and prices followed. Those looking to free up liquidity and move into safer, more stable assets have been flushed out. So fewer people are looking to offload their NFTs cheaply.

Check out the list of NFT sales highlights

N.B. Dollar values given are correct at the time of sale.

Every week, DappRadar highlights not only the most expensive NFT sales but also the most interesting in the previous seven days. While huge numbers are sure to capture headlines, it’s also essential to highlight emerging trends and keep the DappRadar community ahead.

A closer look at some the highlights

Two Bored Ape sales nearly hit the $1 million mark. The wallets holding these two NFTs offer contrasting stories. BAYC #232 sits here and we can see it’s a bonafide whale wallet. It belongs to Keungz, a Web3 collective, and contains plenty of other blue-chip NFTs.

BAYC #1268 sits in this wallet, which holds no other blue-chip items. The buyer also seemed to pay massively over the odds for the Ape. DappRadar’s NFT Value Estimator tells us BAYC #1268 is currently worth around $79,192. The buyer paid more than 10 times that amount for the Ape. Whenever we see unusual sales activity like this, we treat it with extreme caution until we discover the full story behind the trade.

As usual, CryptoPunks feature heavily in the top 50 most expensive NFT sales over the past seven days. The biggest trade was for CryptoPunk #7261, which sold for $324,210. The wallet belongs to Punks OTC, which contains 60 more Punks. Overall, Punk OTC’s NFTs have a combined estimated value of $6.67 million.

For metaverse fans, there are two big sales that will catch their attention. Someone paid $141,800 for a plot in Decentraland (Massive Main Street Lot (55 LAND)) and someone else paid $116,130 for a piece of the most valuable land in Axie Infinity (Genesis Plot (-30, -30)). 

With everything that’s been going on in Web3 recently, these two trades show that people are still willing to invest and build in a Web3 future where decentralization and ownership matter.