All About NFT Prices: What Is The Most Expensive NFT?

Everyone always asks, how do you price NFTs? Generally speaking, regarding NFT pricing and valuation, NFTs are valued on their metadata, and because each NFT has unique metadata, they can be priced differently based on desirability. This is where the concept of floor price is relevant to NFTs.

How Is An NFT Price Determined?

There’s no rule book for determining NFT prices, but a couple of factors play a large role.

• First, is rarity, or how hard an NFT is to obtain and the metadata (characteristics). Currently, a golden Bored Ape NFT price is ~1170 ETH, while a common ape with brown fur costs just ~90 ETH.
• Second, is the number of NFTs in a collection – the higher the supply, lower the price (basic demand economics).
• Third, NFTs also derive price from their utility. The utility gives NFTs immediate value, accruing over time depending on the underlying project’s popularity.

What Is Floor Price In NFTs?

The floor price is the lowest asking price for an NFT. NFTs with the most common metadata will be valued at or around the collection’s floor price.

What Is Mint Price In NFTs?

The mint price of NFTs refers to the cost at which an NFT was minted by its first-ever holder. Any NFT must be minted for the first time from the smart contract, which attracts a cost (in most cases).

For example, the mint price for Bored Ape was 0.08 ETH. The good thing about minting at mint price is that it’s uniform for all NFTs in the collection. Even the rarest Gold Apes were minted at 0.08 because characteristics are revealed after mint. After the mint, the secondary market dictates the value.

How Do NFT Prices Go Up?

NFT prices go up when there’s demand for the NFT. Prices go up drastically for rarer NFTs in the collection, while the common ones trail the floor prices.

The NFT Price Cycle

NFT prices are affected by two major parameters:

1. The price of the base asset against which the NFT is trading. On Ethereum-based marketplaces like OpenSea, NFTs are priced in ETH. So if Ethereum’s market price rises, the ETH value of the NFT will fall, keeping the rest constant. However, this does not result in the token’s dollar value falling.
2. The general crypto market trend – although we have limited historical data to ascertain the effect of crypto prices like Bitcoin on the NFT market, the trend appears evident. In 2022, the overall NFT market witnessed a decline parallel to the fall in cryptocurrency prices. The value of some NFT collections have retraced by over 50%, with compounding losses due to a fall in ETH as well.

However, when the cryptocurrency market is green (like in 2021), NFTs witness appreciation on the back of Bitcoin, which hit an ATH of $69,000 in November 2021.

3 Other Factors Impact NFT Price

1. Gas price, the cost of sending a transaction on the blockchain to register the NFT to your wallet address. Gas prices are particularly important for NFT trading because limited collections are minted or traded by offering high gas prices to the miners, which bids up gas prices on the network.
2. Royalties, each NFT collection can set the commission they wish to receive on each NFT transaction. This can range from 0% to 10% and are excluded from other proceeds credited to the artist.
3. Platform fee, another cost you may have to bear is the platform fee. This is applicable for each NFT transaction as a percentage of the sale value. For example, OpenSea deducts a 2.5% commission from each NFT sale.

What Is The Most Expensive NFT?

NFT prices are variable. However, some NFTs that are the most expensive include Bored Apes, Crypto Punks, and Proof Collective. Many NFTs since Beeple’s have broken price records, and some of the most expensive ones include Pak’s Merge and Azukis.

3 Most Expensive NFTs Ever Sold

1. The Merge, with a $91.8 million price tag, broke records for artwork sold publicly by a living artist. The NFT was sold on Nifty Gateway.
2. Another expensive NFT, The Clock, was created to raise funds for Julian Assange’s defense after he was controversially imprisoned in May 2019. The NFT is simply a clock depicting the number of days since Assange has been imprisoned.
3. CryptoPunks is known as one of the NFT OGs. CryptoPunk #5822 is the most expensive CryptoPunk ever sold, racking up an incredible $23 million price tag. They were the first full-scale collection of NFTs minted entirely on the Ethereum blockchain.

Read Top 11 Highest NFT Selling Artists of All Time to discover more NFT artists.

The Market Right Now: Are NFT Prices Dropping?

NFT prices have fallen by over 90% for some collections denominated in Ethereum. Since Ethereum has fallen by nearly 60%, the discounts are mouth-watering for NFT lovers.

For NFT Creators: How To Price Your NFT?

NFT creators should keep these things in mind before pricing their NFTs.

• Competitors: Check the prices for similar NFTs on marketplaces like OpenSea and Nifty Gateway. Always try to match those prices to be competitive.
• Uniqueness: If your NFT offers something that other competitors don’t, it merits a premium, but make sure not to go overboard with it.
• Market Conditions: A launch in a bull market can fetch you 5-10 times more than in a bear market. Price accordingly.
• Marketing: Gauge the demand for your NFTs from social media engagement. If your project has traction on Twitter, people will pay high prices to get them.
• Consider free mints: Some of the best NFTs offer free mints. Royalties are more than enough to get your share if the secondary market loves your collection.

Conclusion

With no caps on how high NFT prices can go, this asset class presents a lucrative opportunity for anyone who can manage to invest in the right projects with patience. It’s also our duty to inform you that NFTs are a nascent technology, and while the future looks promising, the financial, legal, and technical risks are very real. Please research thoroughly before investing in any project and use the information you gather to make the most informed decisions possible.