Blue-Chip NFTs lose luster as market cools

• The Blue-Chip Index fell by over 35% in the past three months.
• While BAYC saw a decline in floor price, the value of the Milady Maker collection has more than tripled. 

The value of Blue-Chip NFTs has continued to decline in recent weeks amid a general slowdown in the profile-picture NFT (PFP) market.

Blue-Chip NFTs are considered to be high-quality and have a high potential for future growth. They are often characterized by their high floor price, strong community, and potential for future utility. It includes NFT projects such as CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club [BAYC], CryptoKitties, Milady, and more. 

A major indicator of this decline is the Blue-Chip Index. According to NFTGo, this metric tracks the performance of the NFTs that make up this category and is calculated by weighing their market capitalization to determine their performance.

Peaking at 8421 ETH on 5 June, the Blue-Chip Index has since trended downwards. At 5208 ETH as of this writing, it has fallen by 38% in the last 90 days. 

Source: NFTGo

Degens have increasingly shunned the Bored Apes 

The year so far has been marked by a steady decline in the value of NFTs that make up the BAYC collection. At press time, BAYC’s floor price was 25.6 ETH. The last time an NFT from the BAYC collection traded for this low was in August 2021.

The NFT craze of 2021 and early 2022 pushed the collection’s floor price to a high of 128 ETH by April 2022, from which it has since declined by 80%. On a year-to-date, BAYC’s floor price has plummeted by 64%, data from

Source: NFT Price Floor

The decline in BAYC’s value has been due to the fall in trading volume in the past few months. According to data from CryptoSlam, BAYC’s daily trading volume peaked at $11.47 million on February 22, 2023, and has since decreased. As of 18 August, this was $923,085.

This represented a daily trading volume decline of 92% in six months.

Source: CryptoSlam

An outlier exists

While other leading NFT projects have grappled with a huge fall in value, the Milady Maker collection has seen its floor price increase by “over 4x since January, resisting the broader market downtrend,” Messari found in a new report. 

Source: Messari

At press time, Milady’s floor price was 3.70 ETH. As of 1 January, it was less than 1 ETH, according to NFT Price Floor.

According to Messari:

“Key to Milady’s success appears to be its vibrant and engaged community, which actively participates in the collection’s evolution and champions it across various social platforms as a form of digital counterculture. This community engagement is reminiscent of the spirit of the NFT boom in 2021, where collectors were driven by a sense of belonging and passion for the art.”