NFT prices miss expectations as OpenSea daily active users drop 30% in a week

While OpenSea generated more than $1.3 billion in total transaction volume over the past seven days, seemingly keeping pace with January's $5 billion total transaction volume, its active user count has dropped by more than 30 percent, according to Dune Analytics.

Are we starting to see waning trader activity as a signal of an impending pullback, or are investors and collectors taking their trading activity elsewhere?

Source of OpenSea daily active users: Dune Analytics

The closest competitor to the platform's market position is LooksRare, which has generated around $3.49 billion in revenue over the past seven days, but continued wash trading has also reduced its active trader count by 3%.

Several factors may have contributed to OpenSea's overall trading volume and decline in the number of active traders. After all, nothing lasts forever. However, the NFT market is no exception.

Hape Prime takes top spot

Hape Prime, a collection of 8,200 fashion-forward 3D apes, topped the list for total transactions over the past seven days. With total sales of more than $13.6 million, the project has impressed investors quite a bit. Whether that impression is good or bad is another matter.

Seven-day total sales for the collection are up nearly 80%. During the same time period, the total transaction volume of other famous series including Azuki and CloneX has decreased by at least 50%.

Hape Prime’s daily average price of 9.17 ETH on Jan. 31 has dropped more than 55% since launch, suggesting traders may have bought into the hype. A fun fact to note is that there are almost 6000 unique owners.

Hape Beast 14-day average price and volume Source: OpenSea

Shaky expectations hit KaraFuru's price

Since its launch on February 4th, KaraFuru has maintained a steady average land price of 4 ETH ($12,506.36), with 5,555 small series having 4,000 owners according to cryptoslam.

Holders appear to be waiting for the Feb. 10 release, which may account for the recent increase in daily average selling prices.

KaraFuru has generated over $44.8 million in total sales, and some in the community believe the project has great potential.

Airdrop for CloneX holders

CloneX ranks third in total sales, with an all-time price of 10 ETH ($31,000) for an avatar. RTFKT Studios airdrops one NFT for every CloneX and Space Pod held by collectors.

CloneX historical average price/trading volume: OpenSea

RTFKT releases MNTHL and Loot Pod NFT to holders during the airdrop season. The current floor price of MNTHL is close to 5 ETH.

Between MNLTH and Loot Pod NFT, based on the current floor price of each NFT, holders will receive at least 6 ETH ($18,500). That doesn't say anything about the price range, but it seems like it's just the start, opening up more opportunities for those entering the ecosystem.

HypeBears march towards top spot

The HypeBears collection sold out on February 3rd, with no apparent public casting offered, and many hopefuls were left very disappointed by the process. 0.4 ETH ($1240) to mint a HypeBear is not cheap.

HypeBears seems to have gained the attention of traders with its rather vague but desirable roadmap, potential governance token, and more.

As a self-described blue-chip-driven project, HypeBears has accumulated more than $40 million in sales since its launch on February 2. However hot its sales, its contracts have exposed vulnerabilities and potential attacks on holders.

HypeBears briefly took over Azuki’s spot on the rankings despite falling nearly 49% from its peak daily average price of 1.37 ETH.

Azuki's total transaction volume and average daily sales both fell

Since its launch on Jan. 11, Azuki has grossed more than $313 million in sales, according to OpenSea. In the past 7 days alone, it has generated more than $33 million in sales, but the average number of sales per day has dropped by nearly 66%

7-day average price/volume: OpenSea Azuki

Despite the decline in the average number of sales and transactions, Azuki's average sales price has risen sharply, up about 40% in nearly a month. This shows that many collectors are willing to pay big bucks to hold these anime-inspired NFTs.

OpenSea’s floor price chart shows Azuki’s floor price just below the coveted 10 ETH mark, but on LooksRare, buyers are happy to pay at least 11 ETH per NFT.

With a $3,000 trade reward discount, users choose to buy NFTs on LooksRare, perhaps continuing to compete with OpenSea.

It seems like the new NFT series is going full steam ahead and determined to carve out a spot on the leaderboard, pushing other top contenders out of their place.

OpenSea is clearly breaking records to start the new year, but are these types of gains sustainable when the number of active traders and daily trading volumes are significantly reduced?

Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness.