January was a month that seemingly solidified NFTs as a secure long-term investment and artistic trend. The first month of 2022 saw an unprecedented rise in sales volume and had crypto enthusiasts excited for what was to come.
Unfortunately, the massive spike in volume was not maintained in February. NFT sales volume has dropped by 30%, according to data from cryptoslam.io.
The sudden drop in sales has surprised crypto experts because it is a clear contrast to the steady increase in sales during January. Furthermore, January was characterized by massive sales volume and one of the most expensive purchases in the history of NFTs.
CryptoPunk #5822 was sold for nearly $24 million earlier this month. CryptoPunks are currently one of the most popular non-fungible token collections, and they have seen a steady rise in the prices, especially for some of the rarer NFTs from the collection.
According to statistics, the drop in trade volume is almost universal. Ethereum-based NFTs lost around 32% volume, and Solana-based NFTs lost about 28% compared to last month. Loses were even higher for blockchains such as Polygon and Flow, which both lost approximately 37% of trade volume compared to the previous month.
Contrary to the expectations of many and the decline of other blockchains, Ronin has risen by more than 30%. The blockchain has become the third-largest in NFT sales and has successfully defied the expectations of many market experts.
The Performance Of Collections And Platforms
New NFT collections come around every week, but those that remain on top not only retain their popularity but see a steady rise in their value. Karafun was the highest-selling NFT collection this week, with more than $50 million worth of NFTs sold. Following them were CryptoPunks with $38.6 million and Azuki with $37 million.
What is most surprising isn’t the fluctuations in volume and which collections remain on top, but the change in the NFT platforms on top of the market. During February, OpenSea’s sales were around $350 million, while LooksRare’s were around $1 billion.
All of this shows that OpenSea may be facing severe competition for the top spot from now on.
