OpenSea vs LooksRare: a disappointing report card for March 2022

As March 2022 marches out, it’s time to take a look at a report card for two NFT marketplace power players: OpenSea and LooksRare. The month has seen its ups and downs across the crypto industry, but coins and assets react differently to the same factors. Now, it’s time to assess which marketplace is the winner.

OpenSea to summer school?

At press time, OpenSea’s monthly volume for March was $2,424,901,598.58906 [Ethereum]. A lengthy number, for sure, but it doesn’t change the fact that March’s monthly volume was a poor showing when compared to the record-breaking high of close to $5 billion in January 2022.

Moving to OpenSea [Polygon], the number of NFTs sold in March was a dismally low 511,648. According to Dune Analytics, only July and August 2021 saw lower numbers.

Another factor to note is that the drop in NFT traction came even as Ethereum recorded a significant fall in average gas prices during the first quarter of 2022. Possible reasons for this could range from the rise of NFT capabilities on blockchains to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Will next month see a continuation of this decline, or a positive reversal as ApeCoin grows more popular?

Looks like a stalemate

While LooksRare’s total volume at press time was $21,524,853,068, OpenSea’s total volume since the release of the rival NFT marketplace was $12,234,570,421.

While this might seem like enough evidence to crown LooksRare the new trending winner, it’s important to note that the number of total users on OpenSea since LooksRare’s release was more than 10x that of LooksRare. What’s more, LooksRare’s tendency to enable large volumes of wash trading doesn’t help it in this regard either.

That being said, daily volumes for both NFT marketplaces have slipped considerably. At press time, the two were more or less on par with each other.

How do you do, fellow kids?

As April waits in the wings, what trends might it bring onstage? For starters, a look at the NFT stats on CryptoSlam revealed that the top-ranked collection by 24-hour sales volume was Kiwami at $11,500,154, which rallied by 512.20% in the last day. With this, Kiwami overtook popular collections like Azuki and even giants like BAYC.

For now, it appears that NFT traders’ attention is shifting quickly between new projects, as the ‘original greats’ try to stay relevant.