OpenSea NFT Competitor LooksRare (LOOKS) Jumps 13% as NFT Trading Volumes Surge

The NFT market has been heating up at the turn of the year, with NFT chatter and trading volumes ballooning. While regulatory and monetary policy chatter have pegged back Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market, the NFT market has had an exceptional start to the year.

NFT Market Place Landscape

At present, OpenSea remains the front runner in the NFT market place. News had hit the wires earlier this week of the NFT market place seeing $2.1bn in NFT sales within the first 10-days of the year. In 2020, NFT trading volume had reportedly been just $21.7m. Forecasts are for OpenSea’s transaction volumes to reach $6bn for January versus $14bn for 2021.

The release of the impressive numbers coincided with news of LooksRare launching this year. LooksRare (LOOKS) has seen NFT trading volumes rocket since its 10^th January launch. An attractive rewards program for NFT buyers and sellers and creators have likely contributed to the level of interest. NFT buyers and sellers are rewarded LOOKS tokens, with creators receiving LOOKS royalty payments. For LOOKS token holders, stakers can even earn up to 860.76% APR.

With Quentin Tarantino and Secret (SCRT) putting the spotlight on the NFT market this week, interest is unlikely to dim anytime soon. News of a Pulp Fiction NFT collection sale, titled “Secret NFTs”, has drawn plenty of interest.

On the LooksRare NFT market place, Immortal Phoenix (30,400%) sits at the top of the table based on 24 trading volume. At #2 is Art Blocks (14,322%), with Rebel Rabbits (9,900%) at #3.

By total trading volume, however, Meebits continues to sit at the top of the rankings, in spite the 24-hour trading volume being in the red (1.03%).

With the NFT market abuzz, with film and sports news hitting the wires, there has also been some chatter of wash trading. Wash trading is a form of market manipulation. An investor would place a buy or sell order and then a sell or buy order in or to inflate trading volumes. In the case of LooksRare, wash trading would also reward the market manipulator with LOOKS tokens. As a new platform, however, it will be up to LooksRare to prove itself. The crypto market has bought into the early success story, reflected in recent LOOKS price action.

LOOKS Price Action

On Saturday, LOOKS surged by 13.08% against USDT, after having tumbled by 21.6% on Friday. Since launch, however, LOOKS is up 279% to Saturday’s closing 3.7915 USDT. On Thursday, LOOKS at struck an ATH 5.1000 USDT.

Looking ahead, a move back through this morning’s high 4.0784 USDT would bring 5 USDT levels back into play.

We can expect plenty of resistance at 4.5 USDT levels, however. A fall back through to sub-3.50 USDT levels would bring yesterday’s low 3.2620 USDT into play. Barring negative news hitting the wires, LOOKS should steer well clear of sub-3.00 USDT levels.

At the time of writing, LOOKS was up by 0.03% to 3.7926 USDT.