March 2022 Market Recap and Outlook — Shrugging It Off

While the past few months have been relatively bearish for the crypto space, the bulls emerged victorious in March as nearly all sectors regained lost ground. DeFi, Layer 1, and Metaverse sectors led the way with stellar gains in March, with +27%, +18%, and +17% returns, respectively. 

How did BTC, ETH, and the NFT sector fare last month? Kraken Intelligence’s latest report, Shrugging It Off, takes a closer look at the events that shaped the crypto market in March.

The bulls came charging back

March proved to be a less volatile month for cryptocurrencies than February. While the month started off with a slump for BTC, the bulls came charging back in mid-March, posting a +3% return by the end of the month.

ETH posted even stronger gains, ending the month 11% higher although the asset experienced slightly less trading volatility than BTC. Network activity on Ethereum held steady over the course of the month as average gas fees remained flat month-over-month, while the number of whales and the total ETH they hold both increased sharply, meaning ETH’s price performance was more strongly associated with whale accumulation than an increase in network activity.

NFT activity cooled off

The NFT markets slowed down in March as the number of daily users and transactions fell 30% and 34%, respectively. Interestingly, volume fell only 11% due to an offsetting increase in the average volume per transaction by 33%. This implies high value buyers are sticking around as broader market activity cooled off, reflected in the increase in average prices of blue chip collections. 

Prominent NFT brands have also made big moves in March. Bored Ape Yacht Club creators Yuga Labs, announced its IP rights acquisition of popular NFT projects CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs.

Want to learn more about what went down and what’s ahead? Download the Kraken Intelligence report Shrugging It Off to understand what’s moving the crypto market.