The cryptocurrency market experienced a significant downturn in April, with both trading volume and NFT sales plummeting by over 30% compared to March. This signals a potential cooling period for digital asset transactions and a shift in investor sentiment.

Data from centralized exchanges reveals a substantial decrease in spot trading volumes. These volumes fell by a staggering 35.7%, dropping from $2.49 trillion in March to just $1.6 trillion in April. Binance, the leading crypto exchange, saw the highest trading volume, accounting for nearly half ($699.25 billion) of the total.

The NFT sector mirrored the broader market decline. NFT sales dipped to $1.15 billion in April, reflecting a 31.26% decrease from the previous month. This downturn wasn’t limited to sales figures; the number of active participants in the NFT market also witnessed a significant decline. Buyer participation fell by over half (51.88%), and seller activity dropped by 45.72%, indicating a shrinking market interest.

The decline impacted several blockchains where NFTs are commonly traded. Ethereum, the dominant player in the NFT space, saw its sales value plummet by 56.8%. Similarly, Solana-based NFT sales also experienced a substantial drop of 39.4%. However, a few exceptions emerged, with Immutable X and Avalanche recording surprising increases in NFT transactions during this period.

Data from Santiment shows that since March 6, trading volumes have steadily declined, reflecting a hesitant market sentiment. Bitcoin and other large-cap altcoins have struggled to establish a clear direction despite upcoming events like Bitcoin halving.

While the overall NFT market witnessed a downturn, specific Bitcoin-based collections defied the trend. The Bitcoin Puppets and the WZRDs collections saw their values skyrocket by a staggering 2,064.97% and 25,796% respectively in April. This suggests that even within a declining market, niche collections can still attract significant interest and command high valuations.