Over the last month, the trading volumes and prices for most NFT projects have decreased, possibly due to the extended bear market from 2022 into the first quarter of 2023.
Blockchain analytics company IntoTheBlock has provided data indicating that out of the top 20 NFT collections ranked by market capitalization, only six have shown a rise in trading volumes in the last 30 days. The other collections experienced a substantial decline from 20 percent to 99 percent.
During the last month, the trading volume of the well-known NFT collection CryptoPunks, which holds the second-largest market cap, saw a significant decline of 63.12 percent.
Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) experienced a decrease of 21.74 percent, Otherdeed saw a decline of 68.17 percent, Moonbirds’ trading volume declined by 73.31 percent and Doodles’ trading volume decreased by 56.67 percent.
SewerPass, the ninth-largest collection by market cap, launched by Yuga Labs, also experienced a massive 99.22 percent decrease in trading volume.
In contrast, some collections saw increased trading volumes over the same period. Captainz’s NFT collection recorded the most significant surge, with a 44.19 percent increase in trading volume.
The most extensive NFT collection by market cap, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), experienced a 22.57 percent rise. Azuki also experienced an increase in trading volume of 16.71 percent, Autoglyphs had a 38.12 percent surge and Meebits saw a 2.57 percent increase in its trading volume.
Despite an increase in trading volume, the prices of BAYC and Meebits declined by 17.05 percent and 25.34 percent, respectively.
On the other hand, the price of CryptoPunks increased by 0.90 percent. Azuki had a price gain of 7.05 percent, Autoglyphs saw a price rise of 8.32 percent and Captainz’s price significantly increased by 38.81 percent.
NFT industry shows resilience despite recent decline
Although the NFT industry recently declined, it still grew and evolved. The global platform for decentralized applications DappRadar reported that the NFT market had had a great beginning in 2023, with Q1 proving to be the strongest quarter since Q2 2022.
Despite a 15.65 percent decline in NFT trading volume in March due to market volatility, the overall performance remained bullish. The trading volume for the NFT market rose by 137 percent, totaling $4.7 billion. This rise was partly due to the Blur token farming period in February.
Although NFT sales in March decreased by 4.63 percent, with 2.7 million NFTs sold, NFT sales for Q1 2023 reached 19.4 million, an increase of 8.56 percent from the previous quarter.
The report also showed that Ethereum continues to be the top-performing blockchain in the NFT market in terms of volume, accounting for nearly 90 percent of the market share in March.
In Q1 2023, Ethereum’s quarterly trading volume surged by over 245 percent, reaching $4.1 billion, compared to the previous quarter. Solana comes in second, with a trading volume of $242 million and a 4.55 percent increase since the last quarter.
Polygon also had an impressive start to the year, with a trading volume of over $29 million in March, despite a decline of 24.20 percent from the previous month.
When looking at quarterly data, the layer-2 scaling solution’s trading volume increased to $85 million in this year’s first quarter, a 125.04 percent growth from the previous quarter.
According to the DappRadar report, the emergence of Blur has challenged OpenSea’s position as a long-time dominant player in the NFT marketplace.
In Q1 2023, Blur outperformed OpenSea by recording a trading volume of $2.7 billion, a 783.89 percent surge from Q4 2022. The report also showed Blur had a market dominance of over 57 percent.
