NFT market rebounds 12% to $67.7M despite broader crypto pullback; Ethereum sales jump 45%
The NFT market has staged a notable rebound, posting a 12.03% week‑over‑week increase in sales volume to roughly $67.76 million, even as major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum slid lower. A week earlier, NFT sales totaled about $64.95 million, underscoring a clear shift in momentum back toward digital collectibles and on‑chain assets.
Participation metrics paint an even more striking picture. The number of NFT buyers surged by 49.30% to 231,210, while the number of sellers climbed 43.43% to 164,944. Despite this sharp influx of market participants, overall transaction count remained almost unchanged, dipping a negligible 0.16% to 910,892 deals. This combination suggests a market where more users are entering, but activity is being consolidated into fewer, possibly higher‑value trades.
This renewed interest in NFTs is emerging against a backdrop of weakness in the broader crypto market. Bitcoin has dropped back to the $88,000 region amid growing selling pressure, while Ethereum lost its foothold above $3,000 and is now trading around $2,900. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has slipped to $2.99 trillion from $3.07 trillion a week earlier. In other words, while speculative pressure weighs on coins and tokens, NFTs are, for now, moving in the opposite direction.
Milady Maker tops collection rankings as market reshuffles
On the collection leaderboard, Ethereum‑based Milady Maker jumped straight into the spotlight, seizing the top position with $3.68 million in weekly sales. Remarkably, this volume came from just 217 transactions executed by 10 buyers and a single seller, highlighting the impact a small number of large trades can have on overall rankings.
Last week’s frontrunner, DMarket on the Mythos blockchain, slid into second place. Its weekly volume fell 30.75% from $4.50 million to $3.09 million. Despite the decline in sales, DMarket remains one of the most actively traded collections, logging 81,970 transactions involving 8,685 buyers and 7,349 sellers. That activity profile underlines the project’s strong user base, even as average deal size appears to be shrinking.
Polygon‑based Courtyard climbed aggressively into third place with $2.97 million in sales, up 36.57% from the previous week’s $2.18 million. The collection processed 51,199 transactions and attracted 8,630 buyers alongside 2,060 sellers. This mix of healthy volume and broad participation suggests Courtyard is gaining traction among both new and existing NFT traders.
Pudgy Penguins, another major Ethereum collection, posted one of the most dramatic comebacks of the week. Sales leapt 63.66% to $2.21 million, propelling the project to fourth place. The collection recorded 162 transactions executed by 91 buyers and 89 sellers, indicating renewed confidence and interest in one of Ethereum’s more established NFT brands.
On Immutable‑zk, Guild of Guardians Heroes secured the fifth spot with $2.20 million in volume, representing a 23.48% increase from $1.78 million the prior week. The collection saw 1,753 transactions, reflecting consistent engagement from its gaming‑oriented community and the broader play‑to‑earn audience.
The BNB‑based YES BOND collection held onto sixth place, recording $2.12 million in sales, a modest 3.82% gain from last week’s $2.04 million. With 1,935 transactions, YES BOND maintained a steady base of activity, suggesting it is becoming a more stable mid‑tier fixture of the NFT ecosystem rather than a purely speculative play.
Closing out the top seven, Bored Ape Yacht Club on Ethereum posted $1.67 million in weekly sales, up 14.67%. The collection processed 113 transactions facilitated by 64 buyers and 70 sellers. While far removed from its all‑time highs, BAYC’s ongoing liquidity confirms that “blue‑chip” profile NFTs continue to function as benchmark assets within the sector.
Ethereum leads chains as Solana pulls back
At the blockchain level, Ethereum sharply outperformed its competitors, cementing its status as the leading NFT network. Ethereum’s NFT sales jumped 45.56% to $28.06 million, compared with $23.93 million a week earlier. Including an estimated $3.32 million in wash‑trading, total sales volume on the network reached $31.38 million. Buyer count on Ethereum increased 19.84% to 14,433, underlining the chain’s ability to attract new demand even amid volatility in ETH’s underlying price.
BNB Chain retained second place by sales volume with $9.62 million, though this represented a slight 1.60% pullback from $9.44 million. The chain logged about $102,118 in wash trading. What stands out most for BNB is user growth: the number of buyers more than doubled, rising 106.21% to 30,104. This suggests that, while average transaction sizes may be lower than Ethereum’s, BNB is increasingly becoming a hub for retail‑driven NFT activity.
Bitcoin claimed the third spot in the chain rankings with $7.38 million in NFT sales, a 4.50% rise from the previous week’s $6.10 million. The number of buyers on Bitcoin soared 93.52% to 6,874, emphasizing a deepening market for Bitcoin‑native NFT formats such as Ordinals. This growth appears to be continuing even as BTC’s spot price retreats.
Polygon advanced into fourth place with $4.12 million in NFT volume, up 30.43% from last week’s $3.12 million. The network also registered $6.36 million in wash‑trading, bringing its cumulative total to $10.49 million. Buyer numbers climbed 54.95% to 43,010, underlining Polygon’s position as a low‑cost, high‑throughput alternative for NFT minting and trading, particularly for gaming, collectibles, and brand collaborations.
In contrast, Solana dropped to fifth position with weekly sales declining 25.06% to $3.96 million from $5.54 million. Interestingly, the number of Solana NFT buyers increased 77.68% to 26,455, even as total sales volume fell. This divergence hints at smaller average ticket sizes and a more fragmented market, where many participants are experimenting with low‑cost NFTs instead of high‑value flagship collections.
Mythos Chain ranked sixth with $3.22 million in sales, down 29.41% from $4.64 million. Yet on the participation side, buyers surged 62.36% to 22,277. This pattern mirrors several other chains: a broadening base of users coupled with more conservative spending per wallet.
Rounding out the main blockchains, Immutable (IMX) secured seventh place with $3.19 million in NFT sales, posting a marginal 0.27% increase from $3.15 million a week earlier. Buyer count nearly doubled, rising 98.10% to 3,655 — a sign that Immutable’s gaming and digital asset ecosystems are steadily onboarding new participants. Base came in eighth with $2.03 million in sales, sliding 6.21% week over week, but still recorded 74,077 buyers, an increase of 27.65%.
Wrapped Ether Rock and other headline‑grabbing assets
Among individual assets and high‑profile sales, Wrapped Ether Rock emerged as one of the standout performers of the week. The collection’s trading activity underscores a continuing appetite for historical and meme‑driven NFTs, even in a more rationalized market. Sales of such “OG” pieces often serve as sentiment barometers: when capital rotates back into older, culturally significant collections, it can signal renewed confidence among long‑term collectors.
The strong showing from Milady Maker and other profile‑picture (PFP) projects also reveals that, while many newer categories such as gaming assets and real‑world‑asset (RWA) tokens are gaining ground, PFPs still occupy a central role in NFT culture. Collections with established communities, recognizable branding, and a history of on‑chain activity continue to command liquidity and attention.
Why NFTs are rising while crypto prices fall
The divergence between NFT performance and broader crypto prices suggests that the NFT market is increasingly driven by different dynamics than spot token trading. Several factors likely contribute:
1. Rotational capital: Traders who reduce exposure to volatile coins may rotate into NFTs, seeking asymmetric upside or hedging through non‑correlated assets within the same ecosystem.
2. Collector behavior: Many NFT purchases are made by collectors and communities less focused on short‑term price movements and more on long‑term cultural or utility value, buffering the market against immediate macro swings.
3. Utility and integration: NFTs are increasingly tied to games, loyalty programs, ticketing, and token‑gated experiences. These use cases generate demand that is less sensitive to day‑to‑day price action of BTC or ETH.
4. Lower entry prices: After previous cycles and corrections, many NFT floor prices are significantly below their peaks. For new entrants, the current levels may appear comparatively attractive, especially for well‑known collections.
This decoupling does not mean NFTs are immune to macro shocks, but the latest data indicates that sentiment in the NFT niche can improve even when the rest of the crypto complex is digesting losses.
What the surge in buyers really means
The most striking metric across nearly all chains is the increase in buyer counts. Even blockchains that experienced falling sales volume — such as Solana and Mythos — saw substantial growth in the number of unique purchasers.
This pattern points to a few important structural shifts:
– Broader onboarding: More wallets are interacting with NFT smart contracts, indicating that NFTs remain an important entry point into Web3 for new users.
– Smaller average tickets: Rising buyer numbers combined with flat or declining total volume imply smaller individual purchases. Users appear to be testing the waters with low‑cost mints and secondary market buys rather than making large, concentrated bets.
– Experimentation across chains: Multi‑chain participation is becoming more common, with traders exploring cheaper ecosystems like Polygon and BNB Chain while still allocating capital to Ethereum blue chips.
In the medium term, a wider base of active wallets is often more important than short‑term total volume spikes, as it provides the foundation for more sustainable growth.
Implications for creators and projects
For NFT creators, this environment offers both opportunities and challenges:
– Competition is intensifying: While more buyers are entering the market, they are spread across a growing number of chains and collections. New projects must differentiate with clear narratives, strong art direction, or tangible utility.
– Utility is no longer optional: The days when static art and hype alone could carry a project are largely over. Successful launches now tend to include elements like in‑game integration, evolving metadata, IP licensing, or real‑world benefits.
– Transparent economics matter: With wash‑trading still present on several chains, collectors are becoming more data‑savvy. Projects that communicate transparently about supply, royalties, and distribution models are better positioned to gain trust.
Established collections, as shown by Pudgy Penguins and Bored Ape Yacht Club, can use market upswings to reinforce their brand through partnerships, physical merchandise, gaming tie‑ins, and more robust community engagement.
What traders and investors should watch next
For market participants trying to interpret these shifts, several indicators warrant close attention:
– Floor price stability on top collections: Consistent or rising floors on leading projects often precede broader rallies across mid‑tier collections.
– Volume rotation between chains: Sharp swings in chain‑level activity can hint at upcoming narratives, such as renewed interest in gaming ecosystems, Layer‑2 scaling, or Bitcoin‑native experimentation.
– Wash‑trading levels: Distinguishing organic from inorganic volume is key to understanding where genuine demand is building. Some chains still exhibit high ratios of wash‑trading relative to true sales.
– Correlation with macro events: As regulation, ETF flows, and interest‑rate expectations shape the broader crypto market, periods of macro uncertainty may present both risk and opportunity for NFT speculators.
Short‑term traders may capitalize on weekly rotations among top collections and chains, while long‑term participants may focus on projects that continue to innovate through bear and bull phases alike.
The evolving role of Ethereum in the NFT ecosystem
Ethereum’s 45% sales surge solidifies its status as the primary hub for high‑value, culturally significant NFTs. Despite higher transaction fees compared to some alternatives, Ethereum still attracts:
– High‑end collectors seeking provenance and liquidity.
– Blue‑chip projects that prefer Ethereum’s security and network effects.
– Institutional and brand partnerships that want to tap into the most established NFT audience.
At the same time, the rise of Layer‑2 solutions and sidechains is gradually reshaping how NFT volume is distributed. Many gaming and mass‑market experiences are migrating to cheaper environments while still leveraging Ethereum’s security model indirectly. This layered architecture is likely to define the next phase of NFT growth.
Outlook: cautious optimism for the NFT sector
The current data supports a cautiously optimistic view of the NFT market. Sales are climbing, buyer numbers are expanding, and major collections and chains are showing signs of renewed activity despite headwinds in the broader crypto complex.
If Bitcoin and Ethereum prices stabilize or recover from current levels, the NFT rebound could accelerate as risk appetite returns. Conversely, a deeper macro or crypto‑wide downturn would likely test how resilient this new wave of NFT demand truly is.
For now, the 12% jump in total NFT sales and the 45% spike on Ethereum indicate that digital collectibles and on‑chain assets remain one of the most dynamic corners of the crypto ecosystem — and that, even in a cooling market for coins, NFTs continue to draw both capital and curiosity.