surge in activity and notable sales drive market momentum

The NFT market saw a significant boost in activity this week, with a 48% rise in buyers and several high-profile sales.

In an eventful week for the NFT market, the Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) blockchains maintained their dominance, with digital collectibles on these chains seeing significant sales and capturing the attention of buyers and sellers alike.

According to data from CryptoSlam!, the NFT landscape saw notable growth, with overall sales volumes reaching $107,965,224, marking a 7.05% increase from the previous week.

The rising number of buyers and sellers also reflected the overall health of the market. This week, more than 721,000 buyers entered the market, a 48.05% increase, while nearly 263,000 sellers represented a 32.74% rise.

The total number of NFT transactions also saw a boost, reaching 2,870,607, a 10.69% increase on the week.

Blockchain highlights

As shown in the snapshot below from CryptoSlam, Ethereum remained the top blockchain by NFT sales volume, generating $32.6 million in sales, a 7.54% increase over the week.

Despite the growth, wash trading on the network accounted for 18% of the total sales volume. Additionally, the blockchain recorded 46,043 buyers, a 30.63% increase from the previous week.

Solana followed closely with $26,710,307 in sales, experiencing a 14.76% rise. The blockchain saw a remarkable 53.33% increase in buyers, totaling 289,036. Its wash trading volume constituted 5.4% of its total sales.

Bitcoin (BTC) maintained third position, even as it registered a nearly 17% drop in sales volume to rake in $17,417,258. Interestingly, the number of NFT buyers on the network increased by 46.47% to 35,091.

In fourth spot, Polygon (MATIC) generated $11.3 million in sales, with a notable 31.49% increase. NFT buyers on the blockchain rose by 48.75% to 147,368, while wash trading was relatively low at 2.39%.

Immutable (IMX) stayed in fifth place for the second week running. It witnessed about $6.7 million in sales, up 21.26%, with buyers increasing by 39.33% to 14,419. 

Furthermore, the blockchain had the least amount of reported wash trading among the top 5 NFT networks by sales volume, at only $397.

Top NFT collections

Regarding best-performing NFT collections, the Solana Monkey Business collection on Solana led the rankings with $4,630,626 in sales, followed by DMarket on Mythos with $4,174,797. 

The DogeZuki Collection on Solana also made notable gains, securing $3,246,797 in sales. The Guild of Guardians Heroes on Immutable-Zk saw an astonishing 264.18% increase, generating $3,012,724.

Gods Unchained Cards on Immutable rounded out the top five with $3,006,298 in sales, a 17% dip from the previous week.

Notable NFT sales

Several high-profile NFT sales made headlines this week:

• ORDI BRC-20 NFT sold for a staggering $877,068.09 (13.0294 BTC).
• Uncategorized Ordinals NFT fetched $297,102.89 (4.454 BTC).
• CryptoPunks #335 sold for $164,170.73 (49.99 ETH).
• CryptoPunks #9825 changed hands for $130,938.00 (38 ETH).
• CryptoPunks #3613 sold for $128,868.50 (37 ETH).

Market insights

Some market analysts have attributed the surge in activity to growing investor confidence and increased interest in digital collectibles. The rise in unique buyers suggests a broadening base of participants, indicating healthy market growth.

However, the high levels of wash trading on certain blockchains raise concerns about market manipulation and the need for better regulatory oversight.