Ethereum’s NFT activity dwindles as OpenSea’s monthly volume falls 12%

Over the past few months, NFTs have recorded transactions worth billions of dollars. However, sales data from leading NFT marketplaces indicates diminishing activity, especially in the Ethereum NTF market. After hitting record highs in August, the Ethereum NFT market has been on a steady decline.

According to data from Dune Analytics, Ethereum’s activity on OpenSea, a leading peer-to-peer NFT marketplace, plunged from a monthly volume of $3.4 billion in August to $3 billion in September. This decline intensified in October to close the month with a monthly volume of $2.4 billion. This figure depicts a 12% month-over-month drop.

However, it is worth considering that the falling monthly volume comes after OpenSea’s volume rose stratospherically from $329 million in July to $3.4 billion in August. While a 12% drop in monthly volume is notable, the downward trend is gradual compared to the sharp rise that the marketplace saw in August.

Individual projects posted varying performances

The sales momentum of leading Ethereum-based NFT collections has also faded, with the volume of CryptoPunks decreasing from $679 million in August to around $218 million in September. October saw the collection’s volume take another hit to reach $157 million.

Like CryptoPunks, Art Blocks’ volume fell from $589 in August to $243 million in September. October recorded a massive drop, with the volume plummeting to $94 million.

However, October saw the launch of multiple profile picture NFT projects, which put up strong performances in the secondary market. For instance, MekaVerse recorded a $148 million trading volume in secondary sales. Doodles hit $56 million, and MutantCats recorded a volume of about $51 million.

NFT activity is down across the board

While the Ethereum NFT market suffered a significant drop since August, the NFT markets of other networks suffered a similar fate, albeit at a smaller scale. The entire market soared to hit a trading volume of $10.67 in Q3. This figure represents a 704% rise from the total volume in the second quarter of this year.

Although the data of how the entire NFT market faired in October is not live yet, DappRadar’s month-by-month breakdown shows the transaction volume is tapering. For instance, the volume fell from over $5 billion in August to slightly over $4 billion in September.

Taking the Ethereum NFT market as a sample, it is evident that the entire market is plunging. For instance, OpenSea hit a single-day record of approximately $323 million in August. In comparison, the marketplace’s best day in October recorded a volume of around $157 million.

However, some marketplaces broke free from the downward trend. An example is SuperRare, an Ethereum-based NFT marketplace that specializes in single-edition digital artwork. The marketplace’s volume at the end of October was $37 billion, up from $24.5 million in September.