Ordinals trading spikes 1,200% on Magic Eden but momentum quickly fades

Earlier this month, Magic Eden experienced a short-lived, week-long period of sustained volume in Ordinals trades.

During the last week of February, Ordinals trading volume on Magic Eden averaged just $1.76 million per day. This figure rose by over 1,200% the following day, as Magic Eden facilitated $15.5 million in Ordinals trading volume. Throughout the subsequent eight days, this figure averaged nearly $50 million per day in trading volume, totaling over $448 million.

Interestingly, the week-long sustained increase in Ordinals volume was isolated to Magic Eden, as other Ordinals marketplaces did not see similar spikes. However, Magic Eden’s heightened Ordinals volumes came to a halt on March 9, as the daily figure experienced a 95% decline compared to the previous day.

The likely cause for this spike was the week-long minting period for Idiots, a 10,000-supply NFT collection on Bitcoin, that ran on Magic Eden and coincided with the heightened volume period. Since the Idiots minting period ended, average Ordinals trading volume on Magic Eden has returned to its pre-mint mean, indicating it is unlikely that this would spark a prolonged Ordinals narrative of sorts.

However, a significant event is coming up in the Ordinals sector that has the potential to trigger a prolonged narrative: the Taproot Wizards mint. Taproot Wizards, launched in February 2023, is a Bitcoin-based NFT collection inspired by the 2013 Bitcoin Wizard meme and has become one of the most prominent communities within the Ordinals ecosystem. The public auction for the Taproot Wizards collection is set to occur in the  coming weeks .

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