Trump NFTs Moon Again – Here’s What’s Happening

Donald Trump’s NFT exchange card attracted plenty of attention at launch in December, that is fell flat when January rolled around. But as the disgraced former US president plans a re-election campaign and a potential return to social media platforms, his collectibles are once again rising in price and trading activity.

Trump’s digital trading card NFTs stamped on Polygonone Ethereum scaling network, hit a new high floor price of $1,000 on Sunday, per data from NFT Price Floor. The “floor” is the lowest price at which an NFT from a particular project is quoted on a marketplace.

The NFTs originally produced for $99 apiece when Trump’s business partners sold 44,000 of the 45,000 collectibles in mid-December. Prices rose quickly, and the country as high as $990 worth of ETH on the leading market place Open sea on December 17, but the short-lived hype gave way and prices fell in the days and weeks that followed.

But as market-wide data from NFT Price Floor shows, prices have risen steadily since mid-January, ticking up from around $250 worth of ETH on January 13 to a new high of $1,000 on Sunday. As of this writing, the floor has slipped just a bit, down to $983.

They actually sell too. According to sales data from CryptoSlam, over $2.4 million in Trump NFT trades have taken place so far in February, nearly equaling the entire January total of just over $2.6 million in trades. The average selling price has almost doubled to $905 per trade, and they have made approximately $313,000 in trades in the last 24 hours alone.

The first fall of the NFTs was characterized by extensive criticism, even from some of Trump’s own supporters, after he teased it as a “big announcement.” But buzz around the project drove the initial sale, with the 44,000 NFTs retails for $99 a pop and then for millions of dollars of sales on the secondary market. The project creators take a 10% cut in secondary sales.

But when daily trading volume in January fell 99% from the peak just weeks earlier, the hype seemed to have dissipated. So what is driving the recent resurgence?

By and large, traders who are betting on the NFTs seem to be gaining even more value as Trump re-emerges in the mainstream. His Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts have all been restored recently after being banned following his role in the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol. He has not used the accounts yet, but may if he chooses to do so.

“My feeling is that people are expecting a possible turnout if he talks about NFTs, if he were to go back to Twitter or otherwise,” pseudonymous Proof Director of Research punk9059 told Decrypt.

Meta only announced plans in late January to restore Trump’s access to his accounts, as NFT prices ticked up, and confirmed last week that the accounts were unlocked. Twitter rejected Trump in November after new platform owner Elon Musk posted a public poll asking users to vote on the decision.

A look at recent selling activity on OpenSea suggests experienced NFT traders are buying Trump’s tokenized cards in multiples, stocking up ahead of a hopeful continued rally. Many of the traders who have bought more Trump NFTs recently have accumulated and flipped a wide variety of NFTs in the past – they are not just Trump fans dipping a toe in the space.

Pseudonymous crypto YouTube personality DonAll Tweeted earlier this month that he had bought a bunch of Trump NFTs as a bet on their future value, calling them “strangely iconic” despite describing them as “ugly pictures.”

He added that Trump will likely be on TV more as his 2024 presidential campaign ramps up, tweeting that Trump is “an excellent meme” and “an excellent grabber”.

In a recent YouTube video, DonAlt cited what he sees as a proliferation of conservative and libertarian beliefs in the crypto space, which he believes will help NFTs maintain value despite the initial setback. By and large, he sees the NFTs as a long bet that the hurricane of controversy that typically follows Trump will continue—and maybe grow even bigger.

“It’s a 50 IQ game,” DonAlt added, suggesting it’s not such an intricate investment strategy. “It’s Trump … he’s going to be loud again in 2024.”