NFT marketplace OpenSea has seen a surge in trading volume, as data shows this may be due to the fresh speculative frenzy on Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC).
OpenSea has generated more than $700 million worth of trading activity since the start of 2022, according to data uploaded by “rchen8” on Dune Analytics, with Jan. 3 being the highest day of the year with a whopping $255.8 million worth of 24-hour traffic.
While some observers, such as Wu Blockchain, claim that the volume on Jan. 3 was a record high for OpenSea, earlier data from rchen8 on Dune Analytics shows that the all-time high (ATH) for OpenSea was $322 million on Aug. 29.
OpenSea’s monthly volume surpassed $3.24 billion in December, falling just 5.3 percent short of the platform’s all-time high of $3.42 billion in August.
With more than $700 million worth of trading activity on the NFT marketplace in the first four days of January, the record highs could be broken soon if the pace continues throughout the month.
The Bored ape Frenzy
The recent excitement around the BAYC and MAYC NFTs, as well as a slew of other Yuga Labs initiatives, may be adding to OpenSea’s soaring volumes.
According to CryptoSlam, the MAYC is presently the top-ranked NFT project in terms of seven-day volume on secondary markets, with $93.2 million, followed by the BAYC NFTs with $88.4 million.
The MAYC and BAYC projects have earned $189.7 million and $182.6 million in the last 30 days, respectively, making them the third and fourth most valuable NFT collections at the time of writing.
MAYC has created $18.7 million in secondary volume in the last 24 hours, while the BAYC has generated $14 million. The current floor price for BAYC NFTs is a whopping 67 Ether (ETH) worth nearly $250,000, according to OpenSea, while the MAYC NFTs are now going for 15.87 ETH, or $59,300.
Several pop-culture icons have reportedly purchased BAYC NFTs for six-figure prices in January, including rapper Eminem, musician Britney Spears, and comedian Dave Chappelle.
