NFT’s monthly sales top $947 million as Solana gains ground on Ethereum

In the middle of the ongoing decline in the crypto marketall in all NFT The sales volume remained largely unchanged in September. But while overall volume appears to be stagnant, individual NFT sales are keeping pace, high-value NFTs on Ethereum still selling, and Solana NFTs are gaining momentum.

All in all, NFT trading volume worth $947 million was recorded in September, according to data from DappRadar – and that number specifically excludes suspected wash trades. That compares to $927 million in August and nearly $916 million in July. June was the last month to break the billion mark at $1.03 billion.

The NFT market is still in significant decline from the frenzy at the end of 2021 and earlier this year. In January, for example, DappRadar recorded around $5.36 billion in organic NFT trading volume. In other words, the NFT market produced 82% less trading volume in September measured in USD.

DappRadar Senior Blockchain Analyst Pedro Herrera pointed to some possible reasons for the ongoing NFT market depression. On the one hand, crypto prices have fallen significantly since the start of the year. Ethereum (ETH), for example, is down 65% in US dollar terms since the start of the year.

Amidst crypto market turmoil and broader macroeconomic trends, he said Decrypt, investors also seem to be more risk-averse than before. So while that may have seemed inviting to some buyers earlier this year, there are fewer value sales in the mix lately.

But NFTs are still selling in the millions, despite the lower price point and declining ETH value. In fact, this number has been increasing recently, with around 8.78 million NFTs transacted in September – up from 7.68 million NFTs sold in August and 5.89 million sold in July. That’s the third highest monthly total so far in 2022, with January still on top with 12.16 million NFTs sold.

“The demand for NFTs is not going away,” Herrera said Decrypt. “It’s just the market adjusting the value of some NFTs. There was definitely a bubble in how some collections were priced out, leading to millions of sales.”

And there are some interesting trends in the mix too: Solana NFT sales have picked up in recent weeks, thanks to the success of projects like y00ts and ABC. DappRadar recorded nearly $133 million in Solana NFT sales last month, nearly double the $68.5 million from August.

Moreover, DappRadar’s data suggests that OpenSea’s once firm grip on the NFT market is loosening. OpenSea’s trade volume worth $350 million in September still tops rivals, but rival X2Y2 is closing in on organic volume worth $297 million. Magic Eden, Solana’s top marketplace, had $127 million worth of volume in September.

Last week, the NFT market saw some high-profile sell-offs and high-value declines, showing that there is still life in the space despite depressed overall numbers.

Tyler Hobbs’ last generative art drop paid off nearly $17 million in primary sales Wednesday, for example, with side sales tops $27 million in the days since. Meanwhile a single CryptoPunks NFT sold for $4.5 million on the secondary market last week.

Asked about the future forecast for the NFT market, Herrera said he doesn’t think we’ll see monthly totals around $5 billion or $6 billion again — the speculative bubble has popped. But he expects the market to grow from here and climb back into the $2 billion monthly range over time.

He links the projected growth to increasing activity from brands in the space, such as e.g Starbucks and Ticketmasterplus potentially significant adoption when NFT gaming space matures.

“Any market activity that comes from gaming will be massive,” he said. “I expect that within a year the NFT market could look a lot different due to the hype and dominance of NFT assets.”