Getting Started in Solana NFTs
Welcome to Solana! Solana is a fast, secure blockchain that has been developing fast and has gas fees that are close to $0. This provides a seamless environment for selling both art and high utility NFTs. We’re going to walk you through some steps that we wish we knew when we got started on this journey — don’t be alarmed, the fact that we’re still here after all our mistakes means it’s so worth it.
Research
The foundation of every good investment. As someone new to the space, you’re going to want to spend every second of your spare time learning if you want to be successful. The Solana ecosystem is ever-growing and you will wake up to find things that didn’t exist the night before. The key is to study the trends, listen to the right people, understand the projects, get behind strong teams and ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. Each of these factors play an important role and will impact your investment strategy. Another helpful resource is a data aggregator like www.hellomoon.io, where you can find tons of information on Solana, different NFT projects and even SPL tokens.
Study the Trends
As you gain experience in the Solana NFT space, you’ll find that there are certain trends that get hyped for a while before the next trend comes in. Trends we’ve already seen include royalties, breeding, gambling, metaverse & gaming. One project will be the first to do it, a few will do it as well or better, then there will be tens if not hundreds of projects that fail to do it. This is where the third factor comes in.
Understand the Projects
Join Discord servers. Follow Twitter pages. Study the roadmap. Check out total supply & minting faq. Has the team been doxxed (identified)? Is the project vetted? These are some of the do’s and questions you should think of when looking at a new project. Why does this project deserve your money? Will you be getting something in return, or is the art just that great that it’s worth the investment? These are decisions you’ll have to make — remember, no one is responsible for what happens after you decide to invest/not invest, except yourself.
Get Behind Strong Teams
Spending some time in Discord servers, AMAs, and Twitter spaces is never a bad idea. Try to find out what it takes to build what the team says they’re going to build, and if it’s possible. Use your judgment of character to the best of your ability to determine if these are people you want to give your money to. Things strong teams do include pivoting quickly and effectively, communicating efficiently with the community and general public, sticking to their word & delivering on (or before) time, and acting kindly & enthusiastically. In some cases, building an NFT project is very similar to building a company — would you buy shares in a company led by people who lack the aforementioned qualities?
Expose yourself to the Right People
There are many people that give solid advice on Solana NFT Twitter. Then there are 100x as many scammers & “influencers” that use their followers as exit liquidity. Watch the accounts you’re interested in, ignore FUD but look out for red flags and advice quality. Remember that everyone’s situation is different, so never follow anyone blindly. Having a 1000 SOL portfolio and buying a 20 SOL NFT is very different from having a 30 SOL portfolio and buying a 20 SOL NFT. Some great people in the space include:
@Rajgokal (co-founder of Solana)
@aeyakovenko (co-founder of Solana)
@Solana Legend (NFTs at FTX US)
@SolBigBrain (Founder of howrare.is)
@knox_trades (Solana NFT Youtube Channel)
@Brantoshi (Creating Connections & Wealth)
@gaius1337 (Builder)
@JaakoNFT (Co-founder of Alphadao)
@0x_fxnction (Degen)
@HODLSolana (Gotta have the memes)
In our next article, we walk you through creating your own, free Phantom wallet that you can use all across the Solana ecosystem. You can use your Phantom wallet to buy and store NFTs, SPL tokens, access defi applications, and more!
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