The NBA’s top shot just had his worst month since 2020

NBA top shot rose to popularity in early 2021, as Dapper Labs’ digital collector platform helped bring NFTs into the mainstream. But the hype was short-lived, and sales momentum has gradually waned since then. In October, the platform hit a nearly two-year low for monthly sales.

According to data from the NFT analysis platform CryptoSlam, NBA Top Shot generated just under $2.7 million in secondary market sales in October—down 43% from nearly $4.7 million in trades in September. It is the fourth month in a row that Top Shot trading volume has fallen.

That’s the lowest monthly number for Top Shot since December 2020, when it racked up about $869,000 in sales. At its peak, NBA Top Shot generated $224 million worth of NFT trades in February 2021. Even earlier this year, when the overall The NFT market continued to flourishTop Shot made $59 million in trades in January 2022.

Almost 189,000 Top Shot NFTs were traded in October – again, the lowest since December 2020 – across fewer than 13,500 unique buyers in the secondary market. The average selling price of just over $14 is the lowest in a few months since NBA Top Shot debuted in a closed beta format in September 2020, according to data from CryptoSlam.

NBA Top Shot’s continued decline last month came amid the start of the new NBA season — a potential boon for renewed interest and excitement around the NFT collectibles. Last year, Top Shot sales spiked in mid-October, just as the NBA season started. This year, things have turned out differently.

The marketplace’s decline has coincided with a broader general decline for the NFT market, which started in May when the cryptocurrency market itself fell. According to data that Decrypt compiled from DappRadar and Dune, the broader NFT market saw a roughly 25% decline in monthly trading volume in October.

However Flow blockchain — which Dapper Labs created to launch Top Shot and other projects — saw an even sharper drop last month. DappRadar points to a 60% drop in NFT trading volume on Flow in October, from nearly $39 million in September to around $15.6 million in October.

NFL All Day, Dapper’s latest NFT sports aggregator platform, saw its own significant drop in trading volume after will be launched to the public in August and see increasing activity on NFL game days in September. All Day’s secondary NFT sales fell from nearly $14.3 million in September to less than $6.7 million in October, per CryptoSlam– a decrease of 53% month on month.

An NFT is a blockchain token that represents ownership in a unique commodity. They are often used for digital goods such as artwork, sports and entertainment collectibles, and video games. In the case of NBA Top Shot, each NFT represents an individually numbered collectible featuring a memorable video highlight from the league, plus animated visual flourishes.

All told, NBA Top Shot has generated more than $1.03 billion in secondary market trades since its launch in 2020. Only about $207 million of that total has come during 2022. Dapper Labs charges a fee of 5%. on secondary NFT sales through its marketplace. These figures do not include the first sale of NFT packages through the platform.

Dapper Labs did not immediately return calls Decryptits request for comment on declining activity in the NBA Top Shot marketplace and details on primary package sales.