Oct 15 · 6 min read

Characters from game universes, humanoid creatures and copies of CryptoPunks

— what’s trending in the world

of NFTs? — September, 2021

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The distribution of sales between marketplaces has not changed in any way since last month as sales on OpenSea still account for 97% of all market volumes, while SuperRare, Foundation and NiftyGateway account for about 1% each. Other marketplaces like MakersPlace, KnownOrigin and AsyncArt account for less than 1% of all token sales.
1.1 Sales volumes by marketplace, source
1. Art Category

As for digital art sales, their number by category has decreased by 3 times this month, compared to August, and reached 43,760 transactions per month. The number of secondary market sales in the category has decreased by 10%, and the ratio of primary and secondary sales is currently as follows — 56% (24,373) and 44% (19,387), respectively.
1.2 Number of Art Sales, source
Sales volumes have also halved in comparison with the previous month. At the end of September, they amounted to $356,462,366. The percentage of secondary market sales has also decreased, however, there are still significantly more of them on the market. In September, secondary sales accounted for 71% ($252,714,961), while primary sales accounted for 29% (103,747 $405).
1.3 Art Sales ($), source
The number of active wallets, as well as sellers and buyers in the category has also decreased by about 2.5 times.
1.4 Number of active wallets in the Art category, source
2. Collectibles Category

In the Collectibles category, sales have fallen even more dramatically. Compared to August, the number of tokens sold has decreased by 5 times and currently stands at 113,759 units. An interesting fact is that the number of sales in the secondary market has increased by 30% compared to the previous month. The ratio of sales is now as follows: 92% (105,110 units) account for secondary sales and only 8% (8,649 units) account for primary sales. This trend can be explained by two suppositions that complement each other: 1) buyers were afraid of a market meltdown and are starting to sell off their NFT assets; 2) traders are starting to buy up tokens in anticipation of a new rise, which, we are sure, is just around the corner.
2.1 Number of sales by category Collectibles, source
As for the total volume of sales for the month, it has decreased by 3 times and amounts to $789,024,556. The share of secondary sales increased by 6%. The ratio of primary and secondary sales is as follows: 94% ($738,348,478) are secondary sales and 6% ($50,676,078) are primary sales.
2.2 Sales volume ($) in the Collectibles category, source
The number of buyers in the category has decreased by 3 times, while the number of active wallets and sellers has halved.
2.3 Number of active wallets in the Collectibles category, source
3. Trends

Material based on data from https://tryshowtime.com/trending and https://nonfungible.com/market/history

New section in our monthly report: analysis of NFT market trends in the Art and Collectibles categories.

In September, the following trends emerged that are worthy of attention in the future when creating and selling NFTs.

In the Art category, one of the most important trends is 3D / 2D animation. Static pictures attract less attention, as they feature fewer dynamics and opportunities to catch the viewer’s attention, tell a story, reveal the character of the hero, and create the right atmosphere. 3D animation is more interesting, realistic and difficult to create, but using 2D animation also makes it possible to animate the token and make it stand out before static images. An example of this is the work by artist Josie, Everything’s Fine #3/21. The work contains both 2D and 3D animation, which showcases the dynamism of the transition from the era of paper dollars to digital cryptocurrency (bitcoin). The token was created over a year ago and originally cost $250. Since then, the price has gradually increased, but the price hike happened in September, when the work was bought for $85,000 by the famous NFT collector Pranksy. Thus, the price of the token has grown by 340 times.

3.1 Excerpt from Josie, Everything’s Fine #3/21, source with full work
Other popular motives are associated with game universes and characters from comics or those drawn in the style of comic books. An example is the work of famous DJ Steve Aoki, Gate Keepers #41/100, reminiscent of the style of the Star Wars trilogy or the WarCraft game (one of its versions bore the same name). The work was created about 5 months ago and cost only $1. During September, it was bought twice, first for $338, and then for $1250. Thus, the price increased by 1,250 times.
3.2 Snippet of Steve Aoki’s work, Gate Keepers #41/100, source with full work
The next trend is anthropomorphism. The use of an image of a person or humanoid creatures, especially in combination with 3D animation, makes the work attractive. One example is Strange Loops #6/20 with alternating humanoid images, which was created by Sophia the Robot. The work was released about 3 months ago and had an initial price of $3 for each of its versions. In September, two different versions of the work were bought for $5,000 each. Thus, the price swelled by 1,667 (!) times.
3.3 Sophia the Robot work excerpt, Strange Loops #6/20, source with full work

Speaking of the trends seen in September, it is worth noting generative art, which has been in the top of the category for several months and is being sold for hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars. We find it logical to focus on the less expensive segment of the market, which is accessible to the majority of artists and collectors.

A sort of trend in the Collectibles category is to imitate the collections that have been in the top charts for a long time. For example, everyone’s favorite CryptoPunks. In September, the CyberKongz collection started gaining popularity. These pixel images of the King Kong monkey with various attributes made in the style of CryptoPunks are quite popular. The volume of token sales in this collection has doubled since August, and at the time of writing, in October, demand was only increasing.

3.4 An example of one of the most expensive pieces of the collection sold in September: CyberKong #186, source

In addition, the popularity of collectibles with cartoon animals and meme heroes is growing too. An example is the collection from the CyptoKitties game. Sales volumes of the collection have tripled in September.

3.5 Most expensive item in the collection (made in September 2021): CryptoKitties #40, source

The Infinity Art team cannot guarantee that the aforementioned collections and works will remain in trend and will continue to grow in value. However, we assume that the general directions and trends seen during September will remain popular over the course of the next month.

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