As buyers and sellers pull back, the NFT market will lower into 2025.
Non-volatile tokens (NFTs) extended their year-end slide in December, with overall market values falling to 2025 lows.
According to data from CoinGecko, the total value of the NFT sector fell to $2.5 billion in December. This represents a 72% drop from the peak of $9.2 billion in January.
The decline came as NFT selling activity followed a weak November performance. In December, weekly NFT sales failed to exceed $70 million in the first three weeks of the month, falling below November's pace.
It is on track to consolidate the downward trend towards the end of December 2025 as year-end liquidity declines. The NFT market has failed to return to its former glory earlier in the year, despite renewed demand for use due to the surge in physical collectibles, including Labubu and Pokemon cards.
A few market participants bring a reduction in NFT sales
The slowdown in NFT sales coincided with a sharp decline in market participation, with buyers and sellers retreating in December.
According to CryptoSlam data, unique buyers decreased from 204,032 in the first week of December to 184,302 in the last week of November. Buyer participation continued to fall during the month, falling to 135,120 in the third week.
Sellers followed the decline. Unique sellers fell below the 100,000 mark for the first time since April 2021, data showed, falling 35.6% over the same period.
Transactions are also affected. According to CryptoSlam, total NFT transactions fell to 800,000 in the third week of December after recording less than 1 million transactions in the opening week of the month.
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Blue-chip NFT prices remain resilient but slip
Floor price performance among NFT clusters reflected the broader market slowdown, with most of the top 10 projects by market capitalization posting double-digit declines over the past 30 days.
CoinGecko data shows that flagship collections such as CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club and Pudgy Penguins had 30-day price declines ranging from 12% to 28%, indicating downward pressure even with established NFT brands.
Despite this, art-focused collections such as Autoglyphs, Fidenza by Tyler Hobbs and Chromie Squiggle by Snowfro fared better, posting modest gains over the same time frame.
In particular, a set called Sports RollBots made it into the top 10 NFT sets by market capitalization, with a floor price of $5,800 and a valuation of over $58 million. The entry of a new competitor pushed the Mutant Ape Yacht Club out of the top 10.
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