Here are some tips to help you with NFTs

Hey👋, I’m MarkTH, and welcome to crypto news. This is a special article about the NFT mania and I plan to update this article as I learn more. Thank you for reading and sharing this article!

We are in the middle of a new craze sweeping the internet and social media — NFTs. Some people are buying and selling NFTs for crazy gains; in some cases for millions of dollars. Here is the free crypto news guide to NFTs to help you get started in this wild new craze.

What are NFTs?

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a digital asset on the Ethereum blockchain. They are unique digital assets that live in the crypto blockchain which is an online ledger of transactions. NFTs are unique, one of a kind, and show proof of ownership so you can see who created it, who has sold it, and who owns it. This list of transactions all lives on the blockchain. The vast majority of NFTs today are on the Ethereum blockchain but there are some new projects on Solana. Most NFTs will require you to have Ethereum and a crypto wallet like Coinbase wallet or MetaMask.

If you are new to crypto and Ethereum, I highly recommend spending time to understand how it works before you purchase an NFT. There are tons of resources online about Ethereum, Crypto, and Blockchains so make sure you understand them first.

Where do you buy NFTs?

You can purchase an NFT on OpenSea or Rarible — these are the two main platforms currently. I have been using OpenSea and it is easy to use. Many people in the community refer to OpenSea as “OS.” On the OpenSea website, you can connect a wallet and browse for NFTs. They also have a ranking system to see what is popular and trending. Since there are thousands of options, the ranking system and stats are super helpful.

Ranking and Stats: Top NFTs

NFT Tips:

• In the Ranking, you can filter by 24 hours, 7 days, and 30 days. This is a great way to see what is popular right now.

• The Floor Price is the baseline price for an NFT in the collection. Many of the Top NFTs are very expensive ranging from 1–8 ETH.

• When you view the collection, you can see if they are verified by OpenSea with a blue check.

• You will have to connect a wallet like Coinbase wallet or MetaMask. I have used both options and they are very similar.

• Keep $150 or more ready for the Ethereum Gas Fee

• DO NOT share your wallet key with anyone! Be careful about people that will try to help you in Discord as they might be a scammer.

• There is no guarantee that you will make money with NFTs — You could lose everything!

How To Pick an NFT

When I was getting started, I relied on the OpenSea ranking system. I felt more comfortable buying something that already had a Top ranking. The first NFTs that I purchased were from Parallel Alpha and they had a Top 3 ranking at the time. Projects that are brand new tend to be more affordable, but they may lack a large following and might not be verified. Here are some other ideas to help you get started:

Check Twitter

Twitter is a great way to learn more about the NFT project. You can see how many followers they have, how many people like posts, comment, etc. This is a great way to gauge the engagement of the NFT collection.

Join the Discord Channel

Most NFTs have a Discord channel that you can join. This is a fantastic way to learn about the project, founders, and engagement. You can see how many people are in the Discord, how many people are online, and read through the posts. Is the Discord channel active?

Project Roadmap / Website

NFT projects usually have a roadmap for their plans in the future on the project website. You can see their plans for marketing, growth, and new releases. Many projects have giveaways in the roadmap to attract new people. They may also have online events, new releases, or plans for new development like a game. This can give you a sense to see where the project may go in the next 6–12 months.

Social Media Influencers

We live in a social media world filled with Influencers and many of them are getting into NFTs. This can also be a way to gauge popularity in a NFT project. If an Influencer has millions of followers and they start promoting a specific project, this could be a good sign. The power of viral marketing and Twitter is really important with NFTs as their followers may start buying those NFTs.

Roadmap Example: Lonely Alien Space Club

This NFT project has a great website with the roadmap for future plans.

Ethereum Gas Fee

When you purchase an NFT on OpenSea using Ethereum, you will need to pay the Gas Fee. The gas fee is a payment to cover the computing energy required to process and validate transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. The gas fee will vary based on the time and day and it can range from $30-$150 or more. I’ve heard that the gas fee is normally less from 2am-7am EST. When I started buying NFTs it was normally around $30 but now it is much higher.

Minting an NFT?

When an NFT project is brand new and being launched, you have the ability to mint an NFT. This means that you will get a random NFT from the collection. Minting occurs on a specific day and time. Popular collections can sell out in minutes so you might not even get one. I recently tried to mint an NFT from 8 Bit Universe and my transaction was pending for 15 minutes. I was unsuccessful during the minting process so I cancelled the transaction to avoid the fees. I ended up buying two NFTs from the 8 Bit Universe project on OpenSea and they were below mint price.

Startup Risks

NFT projects remind me of small Tech startups. They have a lead developer, operations person, and marketing. Many of the NFT projects tend to have 2–3 people in charge so it is like a small company. Other will have more as they grow and expand to add more devs, ops, and marketing. Investing in an NFT is like investing in a startup! There are risks involved with investing in a “company” so small. I predict that many NFT projects will fail, dissolve, and go to zero. When you are evaluating an NFT, do research into the team running the show!

Scams

There are tons of scammers in the NFT space. They might reach out to you via a DM in Discord or Twitter trying to “help you.” Do not share private info with people online. Do not share your private key with anyone. Do not share your wallet QR code with anyone. Please be careful as some people will try to get your private info and steal your NFTs and Ethereum.

News: Visa jumps into the NFT space and buys a CryptoPunk for $150,000. This news created tons of online buzz for the NFT space as new buyers rush to get one!

NFT Project Ideas

Here are the NFT projects that I am now invested in. Please keep in mind that this is not investment advice. My NFT holdings may change at any time.

• Lonely Alien Space Club

• Koala Intelligence Agency

• Parallel Alpha

• Art Blocks Factory

• Secret Society of Whales

• 8 Bit Universe

NFTs are a popular craze the is blowing up social media as some people are walking away with huge gains on some projects. People with Ethereum are ready to spend it after the massive run over the last few years. Many NFT projects are limited to 8,000 to 10,000 items making them unique and scarce. However, there are thousands to choose from so it is hard to pick a winner! Keep in mind that some projects will fail and go to zero so make your decisions with that in mind. I am glad that I own some NFTs and I’m excited to see where the projects go over the next 6–12 months.

I plan to add new updates to this article as I learn more about NFTs!