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Donald Trump’s NFT the collection has condensed much of the wild volatility of the NFT space into its first five weeks of existence: the met with widespread ridicule but eventually sold out, so prices and sales rose sooner crashes quickly. Now sales are suddenly skyrocketing again.
Total daily sales volume for the official Trump Digital Trading Card collection jumped nearly 800% from Tuesday to Wednesday, jumping from around $34,000 on Tuesday to over $306,000 worth yesterday.
It shows data from the analysis platform CryptoSlam, showing continued momentum with around $241,000 in sales so far today. At one point this morning, the site showed a 1,900% increase in 24-hour trading volume compared to the previous reporting period.
The number of NFTs traded rose day-on-day, but so did the average sale price. On Tuesday, CryptoSlam recorded 115 total transactions at an average selling price of $296 worth of ETH per NFT. However, yesterday the numbers rose to 704 NFTs traded at an average of $435 apiece. So far today, the average selling price is around $670.
According to data from NFT Floor price, which tracks the price of the cheapest NFT for projects across top marketplaces, its initial price has nearly doubled from $235 worth of ETH at the start of Wednesday to $454 as of this writing. It briefly touched $500 this morning.
While there is no concrete reason for the sudden jump in activity, some on Crypto Twitter believe that increased demand is linked to a report that the disgraced 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 Building.
NBC News reported Wednesday that Trump’s team has petitioned Facebook to restore his accounts, based on documents they have reviewed. His Twitter account was recently suspended by Elon Musk after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO (and Dogecoin lover) acquired the social media platform late last year.
Trump launched his collection of NFT trading cards 15 December, with the 45,000 digital collectibles – embossed on Polygonone Ethereum side chain – depicts the former politician as a superhero, cowboy, astronaut and in other fantastical roles. The $99 collectibles each had a chance to win a special benefit, like dinner or a meet-and-greet with Trump.
An NFT is a blockchain token that represents ownership of a unique item, including digital goods such as collectibles, artwork and Profile pictures (PFPs). The NFT market produced worth approximately $25 billion of organic trading volume in 2021 and then again in 2022, although both sales and prices have fallen sharply in recent months.
Despite widespread criticism of Trump’s project as a money grab, even from some of his own supporters, the 44,000 NFTs offered in the public sale (another 1,000 were held back) sold out within 24 hours. Secondary market prices rose in the days that followed, with the starting price approaching $1,000 on December 17 as “Saturday Night Live” put the project on the line.
Daily trading volume peaked above $3.5 million on that date, but fell sharply soon after. The project hit a daily low of just over $21,000 with NFT trades on January 8, representing a 99% drop compared to the peak day. Prices also fell, but owners of the cheapest listed collectibles still asked for at least double the original mint price.
It is common for NFT projects to quickly peak amid FOMO (fear of missing out) hype among collectors and investors, especially flippers looking for busy projects with quick returns. Most projects don’t sustain that kind of momentum over a long period of time.
But as with meme coins that Dogecoin and Shiba Inutrading demand for NFT projects can be easily influenced by sentiment in social media.
