NFT market trading volume was down in March but has been increasing over the past few weeks. According to DappRadar, overall, the market generated over $12 billion in trading during Q1 2022.
After breaking records in January the NFT market experienced gradually falling trading volume throughout February and that trend continued into March. The latest data shows that NFT trading has been on the rise. Total trading volume for Q1 2022 was over $12 billion.
DappRadar data shows that the NFT market in general generated $2.63 trillion worth of trading volume across all platforms in March, according to DappRadar. This is a decrease from the $3.87 billion recorded in February and the $5.63 billion recorded in January.
This puts the total NFT market trading volume at $12.13 billion in the first quarter 2022. DappRadar estimates that $25 billion was generated by the NFT market for 2021. This suggests that there could be a significant year-over-year growth for 2022, if the market continues to grow at its current pace.
Trading volume on the leading marketplace OpenSea ( via Dune Analytics ) decreased gradually over February and into March. It has been steadily increasing over the past two weeks. Sunday, April 3, was OpenSea’s highest single day of Ethereum trading volume, with $173 Million worth. The platform already has $669 million worth of Ethereum transactions in April.
DappRadar figures show that 27.7 millions NFTs total were traded across platforms in the first quarter 2022. It is interesting to note that the number of NFTs sold per month did not decrease at the same pace as the trading volume. This was a 38% drop compared to the 55% monthly trading volume drop between January and March.
Pedro Hererra, senior data analyst with DappRadar, stated that “Volumes are down, far from high January numbers.” However, trades are increasing and traders are unique, which indicates that NFTs demand is strong and market maturation is continuing. He also stated that we are seeing increased activity in other blockchains than Ethereum, such as Avalanche or Solana.”
DappRadar’s figure only accounts for “organic” volume. It does not include suspicious activity on LooksRare. LooksRare is an Ethereum-based marketplace where there has been widespread “wash trading,” which refers to trades of NFTs for hugely exorbitant amounts back and forth between the same wallets. LooksRare provides token rewards and some traders tried to exploit that model by selling NFTs between controlled wallets for up to $50 million each.
CryptoSlam, an analytics platform, told decrypt in January that LooksRare had generated more $8 billion worth of wash trading within a matter of months. Around 87% of LooksRare trades at the time were deemed to have been manipulated or organic.
According to a Microsoft report , CryptoSlam now estimates that LooksRare’s total wash trades are at 95%. This is based on a report from yesterday. DappRadar reports LooksRare’s total trading volume of $19.7 billion through March.
According to CryptoSlam data, the Bored Ape yacht club registered $227 million in trading volume. This was due to hype surrounding ApeCoin. The Mutant Ape yacht Club also topped $155million in March. Upstart project Azuki generated almost $106 million worth trading volume.
Herrera believes that, despite the March depressed numbers, the data shows that NFT buyers have become smarter and projects deemed to be scams or cash grabs have had limited impact on the market as it matures.
Herrera said that NFT collectors who have been in the industry for more than a year are well-equipped to tell the difference between good and bad projects. He also added that market newcomers have learned quickly from “fiascos” that were high-profile. “
He stated that “All things considered, the market is consolidating” and was set for an “excellent year.”
