OpenSea Trading Volume Down 99% From All Time Highs

OpenSea trading volumes went down by 99% since their all-time high recorded back in May. The data collected by DappRadar confirms that the popular NFT marketplace had just $9.34M worth of transactions last weekend. Nevertheless, the NFT community sees a bright side in the new stats: there might be fewer scams and more valuable projects left!

OpenSea’s trading volume went down by 99% this Sunday compared to its all-time high reported in May. Credit: FreePik

How did the OpenSea trading volume go down by 99%?

The leading NFT marketplace OpenSea is entering fall on the wrong foot with its trading volume down 99%. The latest data from DappRadar shows $9.34M worth of transactions completed on Sunday. This is surprisingly lower than the $2.7 billion recorded on May 1st, when the platform reached an all-time high.

Furthermore, the platform had 24,020 active users throughout Sunday – 1/3 less compared to May 1st. These concerning stats come shortly after OpenSea faced a lawsuit over its stolen NFT policy (which they ultimately had to update).

The NFT marketplace is allegedly ‘not concerned’ about the decreasing number of NFT transactions. Credit: OpenSea

Is reduced trading volume a good thing after all?

Shortly after Sunday’s trading volume data surfaced, an OpenSea spokesperson released an optimistic statement:

“We’re playing the long game because we see what’s possible, so we’re not that concerned about short-term volatility. We always expected frothiness, hype, and deflation as the community and use cases evolve, the tech gets more sophisticated, and creators figure out how to build more utility into their projects.”

In addition, some members of the NFT community believe fewer OpenSea transactions might be a good thing. Here’s a reason why:

Some Twitter NFT users believe OpenSea’s reduced traffic could bring more value to new NFT projects. Credit: Twitter

Of course, there’s no evidence to suggest that reduced trading volume would mean more valuable NFT projects. Even if it were true, this theory doesn’t make the stats less concerning.

What else has OpenSea been up to?

As its trading volume stats keep going down, OpenSea is focusing on its Seaport protocol. Seaport aims to improve the users’ experience while reducing NFT transaction costs.

The most recent addition to Seaport has been its Polygon integration revealed on Wednesday. Accordingly, the new feature will allow bulk transfers, creator payouts, and new attribute offers on Polygon.

All of these promising features come after a tough summer, though. Back in July, the OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah surprisingly resigned to start new projects from scratch. A week after his announcement, the company had fired 20% of its employees, CEO Devin Finzer confirmed. 

To conclude, the past quarter has been full of changes for the popular NFT marketplace. Nevertheless, OpenSea’s Seaport innovation and improved UX might increase its trading volume even in the “crypto winter”.