Recently, I came across an interesting phenomenon. Just a few months before 2026, the NFT market has actually started to ripple again.

Do you remember? A few years ago, those sky-high NFT prices and the crazy hype from various project teams, now most of them have become obscure little images. The once-top-tier event NFT Paris even stopped holding, and there were rumors that "NFT is dead." But this week, I noticed a sign of reversal—that NFT prices and trading volumes are actually beginning to rebound.

According to data, over the past week, the overall market capitalization of NFTs increased by more than $220 million, with hundreds of projects showing price rebounds, some even recording triple-digit gains. For those who held on through the winter, seeing this green market really feels like a different world.

But here’s the question—is this truly a recovery? Honestly, I see it more as a game of limited capital within a small scope. Liquidity exhaustion is the real Achilles' heel. Out of over 1,700 NFT projects, only 6 have weekly trading volumes reaching the million-dollar level, 14 projects with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and only 72 with tens of thousands of dollars. Most NFTs have trading volumes in single digits or zero transactions. This isn’t a recovery; it’s a zombie market.

Last year, the total trading volume of the NFT market was only $5.5 billion, down 37% from 2024, and the total market cap shrank from $9 billion to $2.4 billion. In other words, no new capital has entered, and old players are stuck holding their positions—that’s the real picture right now.

Interestingly, during this cold spell, everyone is fleeing. OpenSea is no longer dealing with JPEG images, shifting to token trading; Flow, once a mainstream NFT blockchain, is exploring DeFi; Zora has switched to a new track, focusing on "content as tokens"; even top projects like Pudgy Penguins are selling physical toys hot, but NFT floor prices are still falling. Web2 giants like Reddit and Nike are also gradually retreating.

But here’s an intriguing phenomenon—capital hasn’t disappeared; it’s just moved to different battlegrounds. Pokémon card trading volume exceeds $1 billion, industry bigwigs are investing in physical assets, Beeple has shifted to robot art creation, Animoca Brands’ founder spent $9 million on a violin, and Wintermute co-founder invested $5 million in dinosaur fossils. Everyone is voting with their feet, returning to physical assets.

Currently, the NFT market is actually filtering capital. The NFTs with liquidity mainly fall into a few categories: first, "golden shovels" NFTs with airdrop expectations, essentially tools to get whitelist access, but these are high-risk—after snapshots or airdrops, prices often plummet; second, those endorsed by celebrities or top projects, driven by attention economy—like Vitalik switching his avatar to a Milady NFT a few days ago, which caused the price to rise significantly; third, truly top IPs, such as CryptoPunks, which are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, holding cultural recognition and collectible value; fourth, projects acquired by big investors, which often have room for price appreciation after revaluation.

There’s also a new direction—bringing real-world assets onto the blockchain. Platforms like Collector Crypt and Courtyard, which tokenize Pokémon cards, allow users to trade physical ownership on-chain, with physical items held in custody by the platform, giving NFTs tangible real-world value support.

Ultimately, the era of meaningless little images is over. Today’s NFTs either have practical utility (ticketing, DAO voting rights, AI identities), clear upward potential, or are backed by real assets. Relying solely on hype and FOMO no longer works.

So, can this rebound last? It might have a short-term chance, but without new incremental capital or genuine use cases, I think this is just a bounce, not a reversal.