NFT Sales Rise 8.69% as October Activity Broadens

NFT market activity strengthened in October across several measures, with sales, participating addresses and average transaction values all increasing from September. According to CryptoSlam’s October market update, NFT sales volume increased 8.69% during the month, providing a broader improvement than isolated collection-level spikes alone would suggest.

Participation grew faster than dollar sales. CryptoSlam recorded a 14.46% increase in buyer addresses and a 10.22% increase in seller addresses, while the average sale price rose 12.03%. The combination points to more wallets participating alongside higher average transaction values, although wallet counts cannot be treated as equivalent to unique people because one participant can control multiple addresses.

Turns out we did have an Uptober in NFTs.

⚡️Sales +8.69%
⚡️Sellers +10.22%
⚡️Buyers +14.46%
⚡️Average Sale Price +12.03%
⚡️Wash Sales +11.64%
⚡️Trade Profits + 23.70% (still negative)

Predictions for November? pic.twitter.com/7CnNn9NNDe

— CryptoSlam! (@cryptoslamio) November 3, 2026

October Gains Extend Beyond Sales Volume

The October increase contrasts with periods when headline NFT growth has depended heavily on a small number of unusually valuable transactions. An earlier NFT secondary-market surge to roughly $95 million, for example, was heavily influenced by concentrated high-value activity rather than a comparable expansion across transactions. October’s simultaneous increases in buyer addresses, seller addresses and average sale prices provide a wider set of improving indicators.

That does not make the month an unqualified recovery. CryptoSlam also reported an 11.64% increase in wash sales, meaning activity identified by the tracker as non-organic grew alongside legitimate sales. Higher gross marketplace activity therefore cannot be interpreted entirely as stronger collector demand, particularly when wash trading can inflate turnover without representing independent buyers exchanging assets at market prices.

The profitability picture remained mixed as well. CryptoSlam’s trade-profits metric improved by 23.70% during October but remained negative. The improvement indicates that aggregate trading outcomes became less negative under CryptoSlam’s methodology, not that NFT trading broadly returned to profitability. That distinction is important because higher sales volume, rising average prices and trading profitability measure different parts of market behavior.

NFT Activity Remains Uneven Across Networks

October’s broader improvement also follows months of rapid changes in which blockchain rankings shifted with individual collections and large transactions. Earlier in the year, BNB Chain briefly overtook Ethereum in weekly NFT sales after an unusually sharp increase in activity, only for the ranking to reverse in later snapshots. Short reporting windows can therefore exaggerate changes in market leadership when volume is concentrated on one chain or around a limited number of assets.

The monthly October figures reduce some of that sensitivity by capturing activity over a longer period, but they still do not establish a sustained NFT-market expansion. Sales volume does not measure liquidity, buyer addresses do not represent unique users, and a higher average sale price can be influenced by the mix of assets changing hands. The strongest signal in the October data is the simultaneous direction of several indicators rather than any single percentage increase.

Wash activity and negative trade profits provide equally important counterweights. A healthier NFT market would require the increase in participation and organic sales to persist across multiple reporting periods without depending disproportionately on wash trades or unusually large transactions. October delivered measurable month-over-month improvement, but the data supports a rebound in activity more clearly than it supports a durable market recovery.