Are NFTs “back from the dead?”

NFT marketplace volume for October surged by 23%, from ~$210M in September to $260M last month, marking September as the bottom in NFT trading volume. OpenSea still dominates in unique user count, accounting for more than 75% of the user market share, while Blur trails in second at 20%. However, the bulk of trading volume remains on Blur due to Season 2 incentives, which is slated to conclude on November 20.

While the broader crypto market recovers alongside majors like BTC, ETH, and SOL, NFTs can be seen as “altcoins with a picture” as a higher beta bet against ETH.

Popular blue chips like BAYC and Punks are up 19% and 8% over the past 30 days, while Azuki and Milady outperform with 44% and 43.7%, respectively.

Surprisingly, it is the mid-cap PFP collections that are outperforming even the blue-chip NFTs in USD terms.

While NFTs are seemingly going parabolic, do remember that we are still in a low liquidity environment, and it remains hugely PvP. The lack of new retail entry means the same capital is rotating through these collections, so be cautious when trading in a highly speculative asset class like NFTs.

The current uptrend looks promising. If trading volume can slowly grind up alongside floor prices, we can likely see NFTs slowly gain attention again.