OpenSea: From volumes to gas, a look at how the biggest NFT marketplace is doing

If you want a quick and dirty way to gauge the state of the NFT market, it’s worth a shot to take a look at the stats for OpenSea, arguably the best known NFT marketplace in the crypto industry at present. The end of 2021 and early 2022 saw the marketplace breaking record after record in terms of monthly volumes and and NFTs sold, but things have been going downhill since then.

As we reach the middle of April, it’s time to take a look and see if this month will set a new low, a new high, or something in between.

‘Sea’ you on the other side

At press time, Dune Analytics showed that the monthly trading volumes for OpenSea [Ethereum] in April 2022 were around $1.48 billion. While still much less than March’s total of $2.48 billion, April’s monthly volumes could easily beat out March if traders maintain their momentum.

On that note, might April be the month when traders beat January 2022’s all time highs? This isn’t likely when considering macroeconomic conditions, inflation FUD, and the rise of more rivals – such as Solana NFTs being listed on OpenSea.

Well, could another culprit be the usual problem of extravagant gas fees on Ethereum? This is not likely either, as the average gas price on 14 April was 53.37 Gwei. In fact, March’s dismal numbers came despite an uncharacteristic reduction in gas fees when compared to April.

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Source: YCharts

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Another curious factor to note here is that according to Dune Analytics, daily volumes on OpenSea [Ethereum] looked like they were going to make a strong recovery in April. However, they soon receded again, making traders worry about the fate of the NFT market.

‘Dorsey’ what I see?

Called the “Mona Lisa of the digital world” by its buyer, an NFT featuring former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s very first tweet was sold to Bridge Oracle CEO Sina Estavi for $2.9 million last year. However, on 14 April, the top bid for said NFT was a little over $12,000 at press time.

While many traders – and NFT critics – wondered if this was a sign of a dying craze, it’s worth noting that at press time, the Bored Ape Yacht Club saw sales of $5,094,542 in the last 24 hours.

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Clearly, NFT art is as subjective as the fungible kind.