Where does a domain's value actually take shape in practice?

From a registrar's point of view, we see the same domain behave very differently at different stages.

From your experience, when a domain is judged as "valuable" (or suddenly not), which layer tends to dominate in real-world situations?

This is the base layer. If there’s no traffic or history attached yet, or previous drops. If the domain has been moved to a bunch of different registrars.

connor4really said:

This is the base layer. If there’s no traffic or history attached yet, or previous drops. If the domain has been moved to a bunch of different registrars.

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Yeah, it protects downside, but the upside often comes from how usable and replaceable the name is in the current market.