Leading NFT collections, Pudgy Penguins and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), are exhibiting significant price rallies, with floor prices climbing double digits. Pudgy Penguins' floor has surpassed 5 ETH, marking over a 20% weekly gain, supported by robust trading volume.
However, this price surge masks a broader market contraction. Global NFT sales volume has fallen considerably, with total transactions and active users dropping by nearly half over recent months. Average sale prices have more than doubled, indicating that a smaller pool of capital is concentrating on high-value trades within blue-chip collections rather than a widespread market demand.
While Pudgy Penguins shows sustained activity, other collections like CryptoPunks demonstrate price increases driven by a few large transactions. Furthermore, wash trading continues to represent a significant portion of total volume, and aggregate trading profits remain negative, suggesting many participants are still operating at a loss. The observed NFT rally may also be influenced by a general crypto market uptrend, with Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) also experiencing gains.