Former US President Donald Trump’s collection of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) experienced wild volatility in its first five weeks of existence: it faced widespread derision but sold out, with prices and sales rising before dropping as fast as they grew. Now sales have suddenly gone up again.
Total daily sales volume of the official collection of digital collectible Trump cards increased nearly 800% between Tuesday (17th) and Wednesday (18th), jumping from about $34,000 to more than $306,000.
Even analytics platform CryptoSlam on Friday (20) is showing continued momentum with sales of around $241K to date. At one point this morning, the site showed a 1,900% increase in trading volume over a 24-hour period.
The number of NFTs in circulation has increased day by day, and so has the average selling price. On Tuesday, CryptoSlam recorded a total of 115 transactions with an average selling price of $296 in ETH per NFT. On Wednesday, however, the numbers rose to 704 NFTs, averaging $435 each. So far, the average selling price is about $670.
According to data from NFT Floor Price, which tracks the cheapest listed NFT prices for projects in major markets, the starting price has nearly doubled from $235 in ETH early Wednesday to $454 at press time.
While there is no concrete reason for the sudden jump in activity, some on Twitter believe the increased demand is related to reports that the former US president is planning a return to mainstream social media. He was banned from Facebook and Twitter for inciting the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol.
Trump Trade Card NFTs quietly went up 2x overnight… I guess baby boomers still don’t know how to use Polygon pic.twitter.com/XtBsvaKfeI
– 6445.eth 🧙♂️ (sully_finance) January 19, 2023
the NBC News It reported that the Trump team asked Facebook to reinstate their accounts, based on redacted documents. Its Twitter account was recently rehabilitated by Elon Musk after the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX (and a Dogecoin enthusiast) bought the platform late last year.
Trump NFT Collection
Trump launched his collection of NFT trading cards on Dec. 15, with 45,000 digital collectibles — mined on Polygon, a side chain of Ethereum — depicting the former politician as a superhero, cowboy, astronaut, and in other roles. Collectibles worth $99 come with a chance to win a special benefit like dinner or a Trump meet-and-greet.
An NFT is a blockchain token that represents ownership of a unique item, including digital assets such as collectibles, artwork, and profile pictures (PFPs). The NFT market generated nearly $25 billion in organic trading volume in 2021 and then again in 2022, though sales and prices have fallen sharply in recent months.
Despite the barrage of criticism that Trump’s project is just a bid for cash, even from some of his supporters, the 44,000 NFTs offered in the public sale (another 1,000 were withheld) sold out within 24 hours. Secondary market prices soared in the days that followed, with the asking price approaching $1,000 on December 17 when “Saturday Night Live” teased and misrepresented the project.
Daily trading volume exceeded $3.5 million on that date, but fell sharply shortly thereafter. The project hit a daily low of just over $21,000 in trading on Jan. 8, which is a fraction compared to the peak day. Prices have also fallen, but owners of the cheapest collectibles still ask for at least twice the original mint price.
It is common for NFT projects to peak quickly amidst the hype of FOMO (fear of missing out) among fundraisers and investors, especially flippers (short-term traders) looking for crowded projects with quick returns. Most projects don’t maintain this kind of momentum for a long period of time.
* Translated by Gustavo Martins with permission from Decrypt.
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