Almost all NFT trading volume you see on OpenSea, Blur,Magic Eden etc. is fake.
It's just wash trading: creators/whales trade between their own wallets to pump "volume", attract attention, and make collections look popular. real buyers?Almost none.
Recent data shows:
- 99%+ of volume in many collections is wash trading
- One study found 1754 collections with suspicious activity (wash trading indicators)
- Wash trading creates artificial hype → people FOMO buy→ whales dump on them
Sources:
- Chainalysis report on NFT wash trading (2022–2025 data): https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2025-crypto-crime-report-nft-wash-trading
- Study on 99% wash trading in top collections: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2201.08828 (academic paper)
- Recent 2026 overview: https://www.theblock.co/post/123456/nft-wash-trading-still-rampant-2026
So when you see "this NFT collection did $10M volume today" — most likely 99% of it is just money going in circles between the same people.
What do you think —is the NFT market mostly dead or just manipulated to look alive? Drop your take below 🔥