January NFT Marketplace Recap

Alongside the crypto industry’s attempt to recover from the ravages of last year’s series of meltdowns that left it in shambles, the NFT market has been contending with a seemingly never-ending dry spell encompassing a long streak of dwindling trading activity. Despite many big players abandoning hope, the recent resurgence in NFT trading activity has started to evoke optimism again. In January, the total NFT trading volume on Ethereum witnessed a 47.1% MoM increase, jumping to $796.3mm. To a great extent, this noticeable rebound was stimulated by nascent narratives, such as the open edition craze, as well as major comebacks among profile picture (PFP) projects.

On that score, competition among NFT marketplaces has been heating up. With the meteoric rise of Blur as well as the staying power of X2Y2 and LooksRare, OpenSea’s dominance has withered away, registering a steep 34.1% YoY decline in its percentage of the overall NFT trading volume. However, in January, OpenSea managed to take a breather from the downward spiral of 11 consecutive months of shrinking market shares, bouncing from 52.5%, in December, to 56.0%, in January. Meanwhile, Blur’s market share waned from 28.3%, in December, to 21.6%, in January. X2Y2 edged forward while the remaining NFT marketplaces remained relatively flat.