Being part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club isn’t just vibes anymore. BAYC NFTs have sunk in value, with floor prices down 84% from April’s peak.
Arguably one of the most and hyped coveted – either owning one out of real perks, utility, or out of spite – Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs have taken a fall from grace, with price changes to tell the tale.
When Yuga Labs’ Apes had their moment in January, pop musician Justin Bieber bought a common Bored Ape (a non-rare iteration of a Bored Ape) for $1.3 million of ETH, which is on the higher end of NFT sale prices in the open market. With recent price developments, its price shot down to $69K – an overwhelming amount lost.
Next time you think you’re down bad, just remember that .@justinbieber just bought a floor ape for 500 ETH.
— gmoney.eth (@gmoneyNFT) January 29, 2022
But why did this happen? As hype faded when both crypto and fiat markets went bearish, this resulted in the drop of buying an Ape at “floor price”, or the lowest price one can be bought for.
As many factors hit the crypto market this month (notably the collapse of exchange FTX), NFT and crypto prices have shot down dramatically. However, Ape prices have been taking a harder blow than other “blue chip” NFT projects.
Yuga Lab’s other project, CryptoPunks, has seen a 23% floor price drop to $79,800 (66.5 ETH) – but its ETH price has been the same since the start of this month.
Fortunately for CryptoPunks, shifting exchange values haven’t changed much. However, Apes saw ETH price drops from 66.6 ETH to 48 ETH – recorded Tuesday morning.
While less interest in buying, and hype dying down are valid reasons for an NFT’s price drop, some have come up with other theories on what can determine an Ape’s price shift.
Crypto analyst Punk9059, director of research for NFT creator startup Proof notes that Bored Ape floor prices tend to fall when owners get concerned about NFT liquidations on BendDAO. BendDAO is a NFT lending service which gives the option for users to loan out or collateralise their NFTs.
However, Punk9059 notes that Ape sales rise, along with recovering its prices, start when people begin purchasing apes again.
This has been pretty common on days post BendDAO-overflow.
BendDAO concerns pummel the floor well below the level people are calibrated to, and then when people realize there's buying interest they rush to buy.
Also I think Blur 0-fee, 0-royalty creating a lot more flips.
— NFTstatistics.eth (@punk9059) November 16, 2022
However, new NFT market trends have been rising – with marketplaces advertising no marketplace fees, and no mandatory creator royalty fees.
Recently, Solana-based NFT Marketplace had succumbed to market pressure, opting out of mandatory creator royalty fees for secondary purchases.
Punk9059 points out that such conditions can create more price flips to happen amongst those Bored Ape traders.
