In-depth analysis of the NFT trading platform landscape: Which of the 30 platforms is the most worth jumping on?

NFT Popularity Remains Hot, Platform Competition Intensifies

When it comes to NFTs, many people’s first reaction is OpenSea. This is no surprise— as a comprehensive NFT trading platform founded in late 2017, OpenSea has held the market leadership position for several years.

Data shows that as of June, the total market capitalization of NFTs reached $16.972 billion. Two years ago, this figure was only $31.7781 million, a 533-fold increase. This explosive growth has directly led to the emergence of numerous new trading platforms, from comprehensive marketplaces to vertical tracks such as art, music, sports, and gaming, with new players rushing in.

Who is Leading the NFT Trading Platform Landscape?

OpenSea’s Dominance Remains Steady

According to statistics, OpenSea’s total transaction volume has reached $30.9 billion. Among the top 15 NFT trading platforms, OpenSea accounts for 42.72% of the transaction volume, with a trading share of 43.91%.

How did this advantage come about? Mainly due to OpenSea’s timing and positioning advantages. When it launched in late 2017, there were few competitors of the same age—only a handful like MakersPlace, SuperRare, CryptoPunks, etc. OpenSea chose a comprehensive platform approach, which allowed it to accumulate the most users and liquidity.

It is worth noting that OpenSea has recently made two strategic moves. First, in May, it integrated projects on the Solana chain, increasing the number of supported blockchains to four. Second, it launched the Seaport protocol, which uses low-level assembly code to significantly reduce gas fees, and supports complex transaction types such as barter and bundled trades, allowing users to quote with multiple ERC20 tokens.

Challenges from LooksRare and X2Y2

In early 2022, two new platforms, LooksRare and X2Y2, launched a “counterattack” against OpenSea. Their strategies are quite similar—using airdrops of tokens and trading mining to attract users, and enticing traders with lower fees (2% and 0.5%, respectively) than OpenSea.

This approach has proven effective. Data from the past 30 days shows that LooksRare and X2Y2 achieved transaction volumes of $958 million and $686 million, ranking second and third respectively.

However, problems have also arisen. LooksRare has faced controversies over team token dumping and halving staking mining rewards, with serious issues related to wash trading. X2Y2, although promoting a higher Web3 ethos (no private funding, no institutions), has encountered issues such as airdrop claim errors and contract security concerns.

Both platforms are investing in product development. LooksRare has introduced features like one-click bidding, NFT rarity display, and integration with Gem for synthesis. X2Y2 attracts price-sensitive users with one-click multi-NFT purchase and ultra-low fees.

Key Insight: Decentralization ≠ Universal Key; Product is King

From the performance of LooksRare and X2Y2, it’s clear that token incentives alone are not enough. OpenSea’s ability to maintain its position is largely due to its strong user stickiness. For those platforms aiming to challenge it, rather than shouting slogans about Web3, focusing on product experience is more effective.

Rapid Rise of NFT Aggregation Platforms, OpenSea Acquires Gem

In April 2022, OpenSea announced the acquisition of NFT aggregation platform Gem. This move is highly strategic—using acquisition to consolidate its position before emerging competitors pose a significant threat.

Traditional NFT trading platforms face a pain point: users cannot purchase multiple NFTs in bulk, and liquidity across platforms is isolated. Aggregation platforms solve this problem.

Gem and Genie are pioneers in this space. Although Gem launched later than Genie, it quickly gained an advantage by supporting multiple ERC20 payment options, Web3 shopping cart features, and rarity ranking. Recent data shows Gem’s transaction volume in the past 30 days reached $206 million, while Genie’s was $40.49 million. Both have firmly entered the Top 15.

Leading Players in Vertical Tracks

Single NFT Trading Platforms: CryptoPunks, NBA Top Shot, Axie Infinity

CryptoPunks was acquired by Yuga Labs, which also owns top IPs like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC). In the top five projects on OpenSea’s all-time leaderboard, Yuga Labs holds four spots, demonstrating significant influence.

NBA Top Shot is an official star card application built on the Flow chain, developed by Dapper Labs, the team behind CryptoKitties. It successfully turned star cards into on-chain business, with total trading volume exceeding $1 billion. Although recent popularity has declined (only $13.37 million in the past 30 days), it still attracts a wave of attention during major game seasons.

Axie Infinity was once synonymous with GameFi, but its glory has faded. While its total transaction volume reached $4.072 billion, it dropped to 11th place in the past 30 days, with only $6.71 million in trading volume. The main reasons are doubts about the sustainability of its economic model and a major blow from the Ronin chain being hacked for $625 million.

Multi-Chain Ecosystems Rising: Solana, Flow, Tezos Show Their Strength

Ethereum still dominates the market, but competing chains are rapidly developing.

Solana Chain: Magic Eden’s Rapid Growth

Magic Eden is the largest NFT marketplace on Solana, with a 30-day trading volume of $657 million and a market share of 98.6%. This means most NFT transactions on Solana are conducted through Magic Eden.

Even more impressively, Magic Eden has surpassed OpenSea in real-time trading volume. On May 25, its daily trading volume reached $45.71 million, exceeding OpenSea’s $28.60 million. In 24-hour active users, Magic Eden also led (50,600 vs 36,900). While its total trading volume still lags behind OpenSea, its rapid growth is remarkable.

Besides Magic Eden, other platforms on Solana include Solanart, FormFunction, and Solsea.

Tezos Chain: The Artists’ Paradise

Fxhash is dubbed “Art Blocks on Tezos,” emphasizing decentralization and inclusivity. Anyone can publish works on it, attracting many experimental projects and works by well-known artists. The low entry barrier means quality varies, requiring buyers to do their homework.

Objkt.com, a later entrant, absorbed the user base of the former top Tezos platform Hic Et Nunc (HEN), and has now developed into a comprehensive platform supporting generative art, videos, music, and more.

Flow Chain: The Big Winner in Sports IP

The success of NBA Top Shot on Flow demonstrates the value of sports IP. Additionally, platforms like BloctoBay and Starly are growing within the Flow ecosystem. Starly is particularly interesting; it issues NFTs via blind boxes, turning trading into a gamified experience, and also supports NFT staking to earn tokens.

New Explorations in Multi-Chain NFT Platforms

Cross-Chain Aggregation Ambitions

NFTrade and Rarible have adopted multi-chain strategies, aiming to become liquidity hubs across different blockchains. NFTrade supports Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, and others across six chains; Rarible supports Ethereum, Flow, Tezos, Polygon. The advantage of this approach is access to more users, but the challenge is that it’s hard to establish an absolute advantage like Magic Eden on Solana.

Venly’s approach is more unique. It does not issue tokens but has launched the VENS points system, where users earn points through transactions. Top-ranked users can appear on leaderboards and receive USDC rewards monthly. This “points-for-rewards” model helps enhance user stickiness.

Final Judgment: Who Will Be the Next OpenSea?

Based on the current landscape, there are several paths to becoming the “next OpenSea”:

Path 1: Dominate a Vertical Track. Like Magic Eden on Solana or NBA Top Shot in sports IP, by deeply cultivating a specific blockchain or vertical niche to build a moat.

Path 2: Product Innovation-Driven. Despite less funding than OpenSea, platforms like LooksRare and X2Y2 demonstrate that product improvements (better UI, more flexible trading options) can attract users.

Path 3: Cross-Chain Aggregators. If a platform can truly integrate liquidity across all blockchains and provide optimal price discovery, it could become a new market hub.

But one thing is clear: No matter how loud the decentralization slogans, delivering an exceptional user experience is the real key. OpenSea maintains its dominance not only because of timing and user base but also due to continuous product iteration and optimization. For challengers, this is the only way.

The market is still evolving, and who will ultimately come out on top remains uncertain.