NFT sales drop to $32 million as Courtyard dominates Polygon volume

Weekly Volume Decline Masks Rising Participation

Global non-fungible token (NFT) sales decreased by 19.61% over the seven-day period ending on Nov. 7, totaling $32.05 million, according to data from Crypto.news. This represents a drop of approximately $7.82 million from the previous period’s sales of roughly $39.87 million. Despite the decline in total value, buyer participation increased. The number of unique buyer addresses rose 20.24% to 268,887, while seller addresses climbed 21.34% to 247,206.

Transaction volume also softened, falling 11.64% to 787,901 trades. Consequently, the average sales value per transaction dropped to approximately $40.68, down from an estimated $44.71 in the prior week. The data suggests a shift toward higher frequency of lower-value trades rather than fewer, high-ticket items.

Courtyard Drives Polygon Activity

Courtyard emerged as the top-performing collection, generating $8.18 million in sales. This single collection accounted for 25.53% of the global NFT market’s total volume for the week. Notably, Courtyard activity was concentrated on the Polygon network, where it represented 91.40% of the chain’s recorded volume. The collection recorded 147,227 transactions, a 9.86% increase from the previous week. Courtyard’s shipping guidance identifies a vault located in Delaware.

Polygon itself recorded $8.95 million in total sales, a slight 0.48% decline. However, the network saw a significant surge in buyer activity, with the buyer count rising 19.06% to 58,401. This buyer count exceeded the total number of buyers on the Ethereum network for the same period. Polygon also recorded $18.27 million in wash-trading volume, a metric that indicates potential inflation of activity metrics through self-trading.

Ethereum Maintains Leadership

Ethereum remained the leading blockchain for NFT sales, with $12.82 million in volume, marking a 5.80% weekly increase. Together, Ethereum and Polygon accounted for 67.92% of global NFT sales. Ethereum recorded only $198,430 in wash-trading volume, significantly lower than other major chains. Base, the layer-2 network, saw its sales climb 29.82% to $1.95 million, placing it fifth among blockchains. Base also reported $4.80 million in wash-trading volume.

Other major chains experienced declines or modest gains. BNB Chain ranked third with $3.22 million in sales, down 21.79%. Immutable took fourth place with $2.30 million, a 16.67% drop. Solana followed with $1.24 million, gaining 4.15%. Panini recorded $359,911 in sales, reflecting a sharp 85.61% decrease.

Top Collections and Individual Sales

Beyond Courtyard, Alchemix V3 Transmuter ranked second with $1.61 million across nine transactions, showing a 21,429.01% weekly sales gain. Guild of Guardians Heroes placed third with $1.22 million, down 18.71%. Bored Ape Yacht Club followed with $1.12 million, a 17.72% decline. CryptoPunks ranked fifth with $1.02 million, down 47.28%, with transaction counts falling 48.15% to just 14.

Alchemix V3 Transmuter #260 topped the list of individual sales at $1,040,654.56, paid in 454.667 WETH. Forest Road Facility #14 placed second with a $735,000 transaction paid in USDC. Alchemix V3 Transmuter #268 followed at $331,781, equivalent to 147.6989 WETH. Alchemix V3 Transmuter #230 recorded $257,141.58 in USDC. Known Origin #115026 completed the five largest sales with a $145,000 USDC transaction.

In broader market context, CoinGecko listed Bitcoin near $76,044 and Ethereum around $2,245 on Nov. 7. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at approximately $2.65 trillion. Additionally, Blur, a major NFT marketplace, announced plans to close its website on Nov. 12 and stop matching new Blend loans.