NFT Sales Plunge 18.43% as Crypto Market Cools

The NFT market has experienced a significant downturn, with sales volume decreasing by 18.43% to $116.9 million. This decline marks a reversal from the previous week's strong performance, as reported by CryptoSlam. The drop in sales volume is indicative of a broader trend in the crypto market, where Bitcoin (BTC) has seen its price fall to $103,000, and Ethereum (ETH) has decreased by 4% over the last seven days. The global crypto market cap has also shrunk from $3.29 trillion to $3.21 trillion.

Despite the overall decline in sales, market participation metrics present a mixed picture. The number of NFT buyers has remained stable at 1,061,348, maintaining a 50.56% growth rate. Meanwhile, the number of NFT sellers has increased by 8.09% to 38,494. However, NFT transactions have slightly decreased by 0.63% to 1,709,086.

Immutable (IMX) has retained its top position in the blockchain rankings but with reduced sales of $28.3 million, a 32.23% decrease from the previous week. Notably, wash trading on the Immutable blockchain has nearly disappeared, dropping 81.19% to just $3. Polygon (POL) has surged to second place with $23.3 million in sales, growing 24.98% and overtaking Ethereum. Ethereum has dropped to third place with $20.4 million, declining 32.06%. Ethereum’s wash trading has also decreased by 18.29% to $1.8 million.

Mythos Chain maintains its fourth position with $14.1 million in sales, experiencing a marginal 0.03% decline. Solana (SOL) has climbed to fifth place with $8.7 million, showing a significant increase of 42.74%. The buyer count has increased across most blockchains, with Polygon leading at 35.63% growth, followed by Solana at 27.41% and Mythos Chain at 19.32%.

In the collection rankings, Courtyard on Polygon has reclaimed the top position with $17.4 million in sales, showing minimal growth of 0.56%. The collection has experienced major growth in sellers, up 1,264.81%. Guild of Guardians Heroes has fallen to second place with $16.5 million, declining 33.60%. The gaming collection has seen decreases across all metrics, including transactions (35.26%), buyers (41.99%), and sellers (42.33%).

DMarket holds third place with $9 million, up 0.99%. Guild of Guardians Avatars remains in fourth with $7 million, though falling 31.19%. Gods Unchained Cards has entered the top five with $4.7 million, declining 28.60%. Notably, Uncategorized Ordinals on Bitcoin has disappeared from the top collections. Notable high-value sales from this week include CryptoPunks #1831 sold for 150 ETH ($389,846), CryptoPunks #9778 sold for 150 ETH ($377,958), CryptoPunks #4868 sold for 76.5 ETH ($201,933), CryptoPunks #5586 sold for 70.07 ETH ($185,292), and CryptoPunks #7516 sold for 60 ETH ($158,378).

This decline in NFT sales and the shift in blockchain rankings highlight the dynamic nature of the crypto market. The decrease in wash trading on both Immutable and Ethereum suggests a move towards more transparent and legitimate trading practices. Polygon's surge to second place indicates growing investor confidence in its platform, potentially driven by its lower transaction fees and faster processing times compared to Ethereum. The mixed participation metrics suggest that while overall sales have declined, there is still significant interest and activity within the NFT market. The rise in buyer counts across various blockchains further supports this notion, indicating that new participants are entering the market despite the recent downturn.