Entering the World of NFTs?
3 Tips for getting started in 2022.
Ok, So you wanna buy some NFTs and have fun trading colorful JPEGs for lots of money?!
“Woah there Cowboy/girl/person!! Why don’t you mosey on over here and sit in the Saloon for a moment before you rush out to find your fortune!”
Make no mistake this is a Digital Gold Rush and people from all over are saddling up their horses and heading out West to make their claim, but beware eager travelers for the road is fraught with bandits and perils.
This mostly lawless frontier will rob you blind and rattlesnakes will cozy up in your sleeping bags if you don’t learn how to survive in the Wildlands…
Ok sorry for all the Old West analogies but I really think it helps to explain what this space really is like and prepare you for the mindset everyone will learn eventually, if not right away.
I myself, freely offered up my Crypto Wallet Seed Phrase to a Scammer I believed was from the support team at Polygon and lost over 2 Ethereum in an instant… really, I could literally see the funds being extracted before my eyes.
Since that time I have made some good calls and some bad ones but most of the bad ones came from simply not understanding the game or having a proper plan.
In this article, I hope to provide beginners, or maybe even some more advanced traders, with some Tips to help to better understand the NFT Space simplify your “NFT Game Plan”.
1) Know your Strategy: Trading VS Investing VS Utilizing VS Participating.
All of these areas of the NFT space overlap one another but for the most part, focusing yourself on a specific one is far more likely to yield better results.
Trading is a Frenzy with Fierce levels of competition, lots of snap decisions, and a cold desolate wasteland for any unlucky enough to be locked out after closing time.
Lots of money can be made in very short periods of time just as quickly as it can be lost here. This approach is best for people who are less sentimental and generally more tenacious in life.
Side note: must be ok with stress.
Investing is an Artform where only a Clear Mind and Strong Intuition can see clearly down the road. Having the ability to pick the winners from the crowd will pay early supporters immensely when the World catches up and realizes.
This approach is best for those with a track record for calling things early and the Patience to back it up.
Utilizing is a numbers game for the number crunchers who like to optimize how hard their investment is working for them on a daily basis. There are many utilities to owning different NFT’s but if that is your focus, knowing which NFT’s will make the most ROI will be your focus.
This approach is for those who like to Mine, Stake, Stack, Invest and Calculate their earnings.
With new forms of Game-fi (the combination of video games and decentralized finance) coming out every day in the market it can be even more fun counting out your Profits.
Participation is a category I added while writing this article because I realized it was not properly covered in any of the other 3. This Strategy is all about finding your favorite Projects and Services within the NFT Space and being a part of them.
Whatever the type of NFT, whether is Game-Fi, Metaverse, Charity, Collectable, Community, Fashion, Music, Anything!
If it has a community you want to be a part of and a role you can play to provide value to others you can be very successful in this space just giving of yourself and being a true die-hard fan.
Now despite what has just been said, it is likely you will wander and stray from time to time, i.e. An investor may get tempted into making a quick flip or a trader might want to hold more investments.
That’s only natural but just remember that if the whole thing ever becomes too overwhelming, it probably means you’re spreading yourself too thin and it’s time to simplify!
2) Learn Before you Buy Anything!: Tutorials, Influencers, Alpha Channels, Security.
This is another one that I do not expect perfect adherence to but I do suggest you really do try to stick to it as much as you can. You may have a great eye for talent, or some inside information from a tech company, or years of experience in a similar field and that’s great!
But there are so many factors at play here that it’s best to go into battle with a complete arsenal and real experience.
Tutorials are the basics, all the how-tos for the different platforms and services necessary to Buy and Sell NFTs (i.e. Setting up a Crypto Wallet, joining a Discord Server, using a Marketplace etc.)
Influencers will be the best way to learn what it means to be an NFT Connoisseur/Degen and the best way to do that is to type any question you have about NFTs into Youtube and see who is offering to answer it.
Watch a few and when you find some you really like, subscribe to them and soak up as much of what they have to share as you can.
Although the best Influencers will remind you repeatedly that, if you want to be successful in this space, you can’t rely on the opinions of others. You need to be able to determine and project/trade with your own research.
Let others get you as you started and listen to their Advice as much as their Trade Tips… Read the Websites, Check their Socials, Ask People in your NFT Communities & Create full-bodied opinions!
And finally, Alpha Channels are where you go to get the most up-to-date information from a group that you have somehow joined or followed.
Some Alpha Channels are the Twitter pages of well-known influences sharing their latest trades, others have been made by friends and family to share their research and support in the NFT space, some are fee-based membership-based programs, and others are given automatically to anyone who holds an NFT from a specific collection.
Whatever Channel/s you choose to employ make sure that they have a track record of real Success. Faking it till you make it has helped real people make it for sure!… but it has also created a World full of uneducated people educating other uneducated people and it’s a great way to lose all your money!
Imagine you are hiring them to be your consultant, are you going to be wide-eyed just because they said “100x Gains!” & “You will be Rich!” or are you going to watch the Video, read the comments and give them a chance to prove themselves to you.
Security within the NFT and Crypto Spaces is essential and should be an ongoing practice that you undertake.
Everyday Scams, Hacks and Rug Pulls (When the project is fake and the creators run off with everyone’s Money!) catch out innocent and naive investors and disappear with All your Investments.
You may have to learn some of these lessons the hard way like me but I would love to think that my loss could be your gain. There are many in the same boat as me and many others who have lost much more!
Do yourself a favour and stay up to date with Scams and Blockchain Security, A small investment of time could save you a lot of money!
3) Do some Demo Trades and Track your Portfolio: Try before you buy and keep improving once you are!
By now if you have followed the previous steps you should have a good basic understanding of the whole NFT Ecosystem, all the basic Tools & Resources set up, and at least one community you are active within on some level.
With all the information that is now being channelled to you, the question is;
How do you know which projects to put your money into?
If you’re not getting the results you want why not?
How do you become successful with NFTs?
Answer: Do some Dummy Trades and Track the Results!
All you have to do is write down (or type, or tap) the name of the NFT/s you’re looking at and how much you could buy it for at that time, including transaction fees and the date.
Afterward, when you see what you would have spent VS how much you would have made (or lost!) with your trade you can reflect on what the most important factors were.
By identifying when you were Right, when you were Wrong, and for what Reasons, you can then identify what is and isn’t working in your strategy and act on that in your future trades.
Even better is to write down all of your potential investments and even continue to track them into the Future! This will help you reflect on your ability to predict good long term investments.
Being a Successful “NFT-er” is all about getting experience and with Dummy Trades and Portfolio Tracking you can get as much as you want for Free and make the most from your losses!
If you have made it this far I commend you for your dedication and I wish you all the best in your new endeavor. May the NFT Gods smile upon you!
For an amazing Community with some of the best People & Projects, I highly recommend you check out the Magic Mushroom Clubhouse on:
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MushroomClubNFT
Discord:
https://discord.gg/W3q97tnY
Opensea:
https://opensea.io/collection/magic-mushroom-clubhouse
