SparkDAO is an investment research group focusing on the field of digital encryption, with members distributed all over the world. We are keen to explore the underlying logic and cutting-edge tracks in the field of digital encryption. Welcome to our Twitter: sparkdao_io

Data generated by traditional web sites and applications is usually controlled by a company or organization. Although some of this data is selectively exposed through the API, much of it is hidden on private servers. The application in the blockchain world reverses this model: data from decentralized applications is essentially public.

Each transaction in the decentralized application is publicly recorded on the blockchain, enabling independent verification by everyone. This means that end users no longer have to rely heavily on apis to get their data from the company. Instead, application data can be obtained from the blockchain itself. This article explores the process of extracting application-level data from the blockchain and delves into the data that OpenSea generates on the chain.

Data source

OpenSea is currently the largest NFT market based on the Ethernet chain. OpenSea provides apis that can be used to access data about assets and collections, as well as some aggregated statistics. However, because OpenSea is based on the Ethernet blockchain, each OpenSea transaction is also recorded on the chain. Thus, the entire sales history of OpenSea can be pulled from the chain without relying on its API.

In addition to transaction data, OpenSea issues the "OrdersMatched" event log each time a sale occurs, including the seller's address, Buyer's address, and sales price data. The address data is contained in the topic, and the price data is located in the data field. Combined with the transport log, the OrdersMatched log can be used to build a complete history of OpenSea sales.

Data Analysis

The following OpenSea data comes exclusively from the Ethereum node of CoinMetrics, which includes only sales using ETH, Weeth, Dai, USDC, MANA, and SAND. (note: these data are relatively new and in the testing phase, so they may not explain some of the extreme cases.)

For part of January 2022, OpenSea had daily sales of more than $200 million, more than it had for most of the 2021 summer of JPEG. Despite the recent decline, the only sales volume is still close to an all-time high. Since most NFT uses ETH to buy and sell, the market generally assumes that higher ETH prices may hurt NFT sales, while lower ETH prices promote NFT sales. This is true during periods of particularly extreme price volatility. But there doesn't seem to be a consistent correlation between OpenSea sales and ETH prices. The two are sometimes highly correlated, such as 2021, but sometimes negatively correlated, such as 2021. While it may be too early to tell, there are indications that NFT is a relatively independent market and may operate largely independently of the overall encryption market.

The chart above shows the sales volume (Blue Line) of ETH traded on OpenSea compared to the price (Red Line) of ETH.

Big sales were common during the summer of JPEG bull market last year. Sales of more than 100 ETH increased in 2021 and peaked at the end of August. The dots in figure represent the sales price of a single sale (in ETH) , color-coded by collection category. For example, the dark blue dots represent Art Blocks Curated, which made a lot of sales during the summer of JPEG, and the pink dots represent Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) . 2021's highest selling NFT was the full audio visual NFT of defbeef, with sales of 22,75eth, then about $6.8 million. In early 2022, NFT's big sales picked up, but not to the levels of 2021.

The average selling price for ETH varies from project to project, with some of the NFT collections experiencing long-term success but some experiencing extreme highs and lows. The average price growth of blue chip (PFPS) projects such as BAYC and Doodles has been relatively stable. But other collections, such as Art Blocks Curated, peaked during the summer of JPEG and have yet to fully recover.

The above heat map shows how close the NFT collection is to its all-time high (ATH) , calculated by dividing the average daily sales price by the previous all-time high. The Red Square represents near or at an all-time high, while the blue square indicates that the current average price is less than 30% of the all-time high. The gap in some collections is due to different release dates or sometimes single-day retail sales. Again, different NFT projects peak at different times, with some gaining momentum in 2022 and others remaining relatively flat. Taken together, the current price trend of NFT collectibles is highly differentiated, and generally independent of the cryptocurrency market market and run. Investing in NFT collections is more akin to a game of aesthetics, marketing and market heat than investing in crypto coinage.

*The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of SparkDAO. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.