Q3 Crypto Market Review: Three Key Takeaways from the Quarter
Before we knew it, the year 2021 was already three-quarters complete. In the first half, we witnessed the spectacular bull run of the crypto market and the sudden sharp pullback; in Q3, we experienced the sudden explosion of the NFT market, the GameFi-driven P2E (Play to Earn) frenzy, the rise of decentralized derivatives trading platforms in the DeFi sector, and the further development of the Ethereum ecosystem that followed. Today, let's use these major events as a thread to briefly review what else happened in the crypto market during Q3 that deserves our attention.
Quick Overview of Q3 Crypto Market Changes
Let's start with an overall view of the total market cap changes during this period. After the 5/19 extreme market event, the crypto market went through a low point for over two months. On July 21, the total crypto market cap once dipped to $1.25 trillion, then entered a rebound and upward cycle, reaching $2.46 trillion in early September — closing in on the all-time high of $2.55 trillion set on May 12 — before ultimately ending September at $1.97 trillion, once again falling below the $2 trillion mark.
2021 Q3 Total Crypto Market Cap Change, Source: CoinGecko
However, even at $1.97 trillion in market cap, the crypto market remains a formidable investment market when compared to today's international financial markets. It's worth noting that the Frankfurt Stock Exchange — one of the world's major mature securities markets — had a total market cap of just $2.06 trillion as of the end of January 2021.
World Major Mature Securities Market Data, Source: static.szse.cn, See captions for data sources
Now let's take a closer look at the performance of Bitcoin — the leader among digital assets — over these three months.
On the price front, after Bitcoin found support at $30,000 on July 21, it began a sustained rebound, posting two consecutive monthly green candles, reaching a high of $52,900 with a maximum gain of 82.4%. However, the strong momentum encountered resistance in early September, and the month ultimately closed in the red at $43,000.
2021 Q3 Bitcoin Price Trend, Source: OKX
Driven by Bitcoin's price recovery, Bitcoin's market cap also rose accordingly, climbing from a low of $546.5 billion to a high of $971.2 billion, a gain of 77.7% (per CoinGecko data). However, in terms of crypto market dominance, the trend moved in the opposite direction — Bitcoin's share of the total crypto market cap dropped from a high of 48.78% to a low of 40.83%. As of the end of September, it held steady at around 41%, which to some extent reflects that during Q3, many digital assets outperformed Bitcoin in the crypto market.
Take Ethereum, for example. After launching a synchronized rebound with Bitcoin in mid-to-late July, Ethereum's trajectory was notably stronger than Bitcoin. On the price side, from its July 20 low of $1,718 to its September 3 peak of $4,029, Ethereum posted a maximum Q3 gain of 134.5%.
2021 Q3 Ethereum Price Trend, Source: OKX
Correspondingly, in terms of market cap changes, Ethereum's market cap rose from a low of $214.1 billion to a high of $444.9 billion, a gain of 109.5% — also outpacing Bitcoin.
Of course, Ethereum's stronger performance in Q3 was closely tied to the explosion of the NFT market. Since the NFT market and GameFi took center stage in Q3, we'll dedicate a separate section to covering them in depth.
The Rising Stars of Q3 Crypto Market: NFT Market and GameFi
According to TokenInsight data, July 2021 alone saw NFT market sales surge 3.28x compared to Q4 2020, reaching $109 million. The top three trading markets by volume were Axie Infinity, OpenSea, and CryptoPunks.
Zooming out to the entire Q3, based on NonFungible data, NFT market trading volume began a rapid climb from late July. Starting from $43.13 million in daily volume on July 24, it took just half a month to set a new single-day record of $469 million — a nearly 10x increase.
NFT Market Average Daily Trading Volume Over the Past Year, Source: NonFungible
But the frenzy didn't stop there. After a brief consolidation, NFT trading volume hit a new high at the end of August, reaching $1.03 billion. Then, within roughly another month, it plummeted to around $200 million in daily average. By the end of Q3, there was a slight recovery, closing September 30 at $450 million in daily volume.
In terms of NFT trading frequency, similar to the trading volume trend above, Q3 also saw unprecedented highs, with a broadly similar pattern of three distinct peaks.
NFT Market Average Daily Trading Count Over the Past Year, Source: NonFungible
As shown above, on July 1, NFT trading count was just 31,000, but by August 16, that number had climbed to 194,000 — a staggering 525.8% increase in just a month and a half. Although there was a sharp decline afterward, it quickly recovered lost ground. By September 30, trading count had returned to 185,000 — a historically high level.
Another particularly noteworthy data point is the change in the number of unique wallets with on-chain interaction activity. While it's not uncommon for a single user to use two or more wallets for interactions, in reality, most users engaging with the NFT market primarily use one main wallet. Therefore, changes in recent unique wallet counts can provide a relatively objective picture of how the actual number of independent users participating in the NFT market is shifting.
NFT Market Unique Wallets with Interaction Activity Over the Past Year, Source: NonFungible
As the chart shows, on July 1, there were only 13,000 unique wallets with on-chain interactions in the NFT market. Two months later, by August 30, that number had climbed to nearly 60,000 — a 362% increase. Particularly worth noting is that while NFT trading volume saw a sharp decline from mid-to-late September onward, the cumulative number of unique wallets with interaction history continued to rise noticeably. As of September 30, unique wallet count exceeded 70,000, reaching 70,778 — a new all-time high.
DeFi Building Quietly in the Background
While it's clear that NFTs were the undisputed star of the 2021 summer, this doesn't mean DeFi is in decline. Setting aside the ever-present DeFi elements woven into many GameFi products, a glance at the changes in DeFi smart contract total value locked (TVL) tells its own story.
DeFi Total Value Locked Over the Past Year, Source: OKLink
According to OKLink, during Q3 2021, DeFi total value locked successfully broke out of the slump that began in May, and on September 16, reached a new record of $146.89 billion. For an perhaps imperfect comparison, while Bitcoin and Ethereum both delivered impressive rebounds in Q3, neither managed to break through the records they set in Q2. This contrast gives us a rough sense that in today's crypto market, DeFi holds a certain advantage over Bitcoin and other digital assets in terms of attractiveness to investor capital.
Another standout example is the breakout rise of dYdX, the decentralized derivatives trading platform. According to data, on September 28, dYdX's 24-hour trading volume reached $9.531 billion, ranking first among all DEXs and accounting for approximately 30% of total DEX trading volume — roughly 6.8x that of Uniswap V2 + V3 during the same period, and even surpassing the trading volumes of several well-known CEXs. And dYdX is just one of the disruptors in emerging DeFi sectors. There are still vast domains — decentralized insurance, decentralized lotteries, and more — waiting for DeFi entrepreneurs to explore.
Conclusion
As a large number of institutional investors have entered this cycle of the bull market, and as DeFi, NFTs, and a wide variety of economic models continue to innovate, today's crypto market is advancing steadily toward greater professionalization and diversification. This means that every investor in the crypto market must keep pace with the times and maintain an open mind for continuous learning in order to seize more investment opportunities.
Disclaimer
This article may contain product-related content not applicable to your region. This article is provided for general informational purposes only and makes no representation as to any factual errors or omissions. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of OKX. This article is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon as, legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice, including but not limited to: (i) investment advice or investment recommendations; (ii) offers or solicitations to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins) involves a high degree of risk and prices can fluctuate dramatically and may even become worthless. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is appropriate for you given your financial situation. Please consult your legal/tax/investment professional regarding questions specific to your circumstances. Any information contained in this article (including market data and statistics, where applicable) is provided for general reference purposes only. While all reasonable precautions have been taken in the preparation of such data and charts, we assume no responsibility for any factual errors or omissions expressed herein. © 2025 OKX. This article may be reproduced or distributed in its entirety, or excerpted in quantities of 100 words or less, provided such use is non-commercial. Any reproduction or distribution of the full article must also prominently state: "This article is copyrighted © 2025 OKX, used under permission." Permitted excerpts must cite the article title and include attribution, e.g., "Article Title, [Author Name (if applicable)], © 2025 OKX." Some content may have been generated or assisted by AI tools. Derivative works and other uses of this article are not permitted.
Show More
Recommended Reading
OKX Pay: Ushering in the Next Generation of Crypto Payments
The choice of tens of millions of users. Register with OKX and enjoy an unparalleled trading experience and a wide range of wealth management products. A letter from OKX CEO Star: Today, we officially launch the first version of OKX Pay to over 100 million global users. As the industry's first truly non-custodial and compliant payments app, OKX Pay will be embedded directly within the OKX App, currently available in select markets with a full global rollout expected within months.
March 22, 2026
A New Chapter: Building the Next Generation of Financial Infrastructure Together
The partnership between OKX and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) represents a significant milestone for OKX and carries profound implications for the evolution of the entire digital assets market. ICE builds and operates the world's most critical financial infrastructure, including the New York Stock Exchange and global derivatives and clearing platforms. ICE's strategic investment in OKX and joining our board reflects our shared conviction that digital assets technology will transform financial markets.
March 10, 2026
Reflecting on Another Year of Building
As CEO of OKX and a builder who never forgets why we started, I take great pride in looking back at the extraordinary growth and progress OKX has achieved this year. Despite the challenges we faced, 2024 was a year defined by focus, innovation, and resilience. Not only did we expand and improve our product suite, we made significant strides in launching transparent and regulation-compliant localized businesses, while also strengthening our global management team. It's worth noting that after navigating through.
January 29, 2026
2025: Steady Progress Toward Financial Freedom
— An End-of-Year Letter to Global Users from Star, Founder and CEO of OKX "Financial freedom" is often misunderstood. It doesn't mean the absence of rules, but rather the right to make choices even within a framework of rules — and more importantly, a system you can rely on when it is truly put to the test. This is exactly what we focused on throughout 2025. First and foremost, I want to express my sincere gratitude to our global customers, partners, and regulators.
January 16, 2026
OKX Officially Launches in Germany and Poland
By Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe Today is a significant day for OKX — and for crypto users across Europe. We have officially launched our fully compliant centralized cryptocurrency exchange in Germany and Poland! For us, this is more than a geographic expansion — it's a commitment to building the future of cryptocurrency the right way: safe, transparent, and tailored to local needs. If you're in Germany.
October 21, 2025
Leveling Up: OKX and Standard Chartered Expand Into Europe
On October 15, Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, announced that OKX is expanding its strategic partnership with Standard Chartered to the European Economic Area (EEA). Earlier this year, OKX and Standard Chartered first joined forces in the UAE, launching the Collateral Mirroring program — an initiative designed to.
October 15, 2025
