Despite Bearish Crypto Market, OpenSea Trading Volume Continues to Gallop

The crypto market might be down, but the non-fungible tokens space remains a hot cake. That’s what the transaction volume of OpenSea reveals. 

The NFT marketplace has seen $2.1 billion in NFT sales within the first ten days of the year, more than half of its record trading volume of $3.5 billion in August 2021.

OpenSea Transaction Volume Could Reach $6 Billion This January

While several major cryptocurrencies have been losing a substantial part of their value in the last 30 days, NFT sales appear to be going higher. On January 2, 2022, OpenSea had sales worth $243 million. That was more than the $124 million it made on the first day of the year and $170 million in sales on December 31.

At this pace, analysts have projected that the NFT marketplace could record over $6 billion in trading volume for this month.

In 2021, OpenSea had a trading volume of almost $14 billion. This is far ahead of the previous year when it traded only $21.7 million worth of assets. The 646% surge in trading volume shows how much the NFT sector has matured within a year.

OpenSea has established itself as the prime place to buy NFTs. It accounts for close to 60% of the market sales, leaving its competitors far behind. The nearest platform, Rarible, recorded $260 million in its transaction volume for 2021.

PhantaBear, Bored Apes Record Huge Sales in Last Seven Days

The dominance of OpenSea isn’t surprising given the collection of NFTs on it. The marketplace features the biggest NFT collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, etc. However, the current trading streak is driven by the rising interest in the PhantaBear collection, Bored Apes, and Doodles collections.

Per data from the platform, Jay Chou’s PhantaBear collection leads the sales volume with over $53 million, while Bored Apes has recorded around $51.5 million within the last seven days.

What makes this trading streak even more interesting is how it negates the overall situation of the crypto market. As the crypto market pullback continues, several tokens have dropped substantially in value. Even NFT tokens such as MANA, ENJ, SAND, and AXS have lost at least 10% of their value in the last seven days.

However, the trading volume isn’t that surprising. Interest in NFTs continues to grow as more people see value in the space. Recently, legendary rapper Eminem bought a Bored Ape NFT. Just as celebrities buy NFTs, tech companies like Samsung and LG have revealed plans to integrate them into their latest products.