Donald Trump's NFT trading card attracted enough attention then when it launched in December that it collapsed as soon as January rolled around. But as the disgraced former president of the United States plans to run for office again and potentially return to social media platforms, his collectibles are once again soaring in price and trading activity.
Trump's Digital Trading Card Minted NFT The Ethereum Polygon at Scale hit a new all-time high and low of $1,000 on Sunday, according to data from NFT Lowest Price. "Minimum" is the lowest price at which an NFT from a particular project is listed on the market.
The NFTs were initially minted at $99 apiece, as Trump's business associates sold 44,000 of the 45,000 collectibles in mid-December. Prices jumped quickly, landing at $990 ETH on the flagship Open Sea market on December 17, but the short-lived excitement gave way and prices fell in the days and weeks after that.
But as market-wide NFT Price Floor data shows, prices have been rising steadily since mid-January, rising from around $250 ETH on January 13th to a new peak of $1,000 on Sunday. At the time of writing, the floor has only dipped slightly to $983.
In fact, they are also sold. According to sales data from CryptoSlam, February has seen more than $2.4 million worth of Trump NFT trades to date, nearly matching January's total of just over $2.6 million. The average sale price nearly doubled to $905 per deal, and they brought in about $313,000 in deals in the last 24 hours alone.
The NFT's initial drop was met with widespread criticism, even from some of Trump's own supporters, after he called it a "major announcement." But the hype around the project pushed initial sales with 44,000 NFTs being sold at $99 each and then millions of dollars in secondary market sales. The creators of the project reduce secondary sales by 10%.
But when daily trading volume in January fell 99% from its peak just weeks before, it became clear that the hype had well and truly died down. What, then, has caused the recent resurgence?
Overall, it looks like traders betting on NFTs are getting even more value as Trump moves back into the mainstream. His Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts were recently reinstated after being blocked following his involvement in the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol. He hasn't used the accounts yet, but he can if he wants to.
"I feel like people are expecting a possible rally if he talks about NFTs, if he goes back to Twitter or whatever," the pseudonym proof Director of Research punk9059 told Decipher.
The target simply announced plans in late January to restore Trump's access to his accounts as NFT prices rose and confirmed last week that the accounts had been unblocked. Twitter lifted Trump's ban in November after the platform's new owner, Elon Musk, launched a public poll asking users to vote on the decision.
A look at the recent selling activity on OpenSea shows that savvy NFT traders are buying Trump tokenized cards in multiples, stockpiling ahead of an encouraging continuation of the rally. Many of the traders who have been buying a few Trump NFTs lately have collected and flipped a variety of NFTs in the past — they're not just Trump fans dipping their toe in the space.
YouTube crypto personality DonAlt tweeted earlier this month that he bought a bunch of Trump NFTs as a bet on their future value, calling them "weirdly iconic," though he described them as "disgusting images."
He added that Trump will likely be on television more as his 2024 presidential campaign unfolds. tweet that Trump is a "great meme" and "a great con."
In a recent YouTube video, DonAlt cited what he sees as a preponderance of conservative and libertarian beliefs in the crypto space, which he believes will help NFTs maintain value despite the initial backlash. Overall, he sees NFTs as a long-term bet that the hurricane of controversy that usually follows Trump will continue—and perhaps grow stronger.
"It's an IQ 50 game," DonAlt added, suggesting it's not such a complicated investment strategy. "It's Trump ... he'll be big again in 2024."