Checking facts is important when you’re researching, similar to how you’d approach investing in crypto. Each NFT has its own purpose—like art, games, or assets. Your job is to figure out what’s good and what’s not, especially avoiding scams. Ultimately, investing in NFTs means deciding if you want quick gains, going with popular projects, or thinking long-term.
Once you have picked a project you’re interested in, you can now follow these steps:
Step 1. General Information
Step 2. Technical Data
Step 3. Markets & Community
Step 1. General Information
Project Website
Is the project unique or just a duplicate of an older one? What purpose does it have / Does the project solve a problem?
Roadmap / Milestones / Whitepaper
Do they have a roadmap with milestones they want to achieve? A legit project will have a thorough plan that makes sense. They should have milestones and goals. You can find this on their website or in their Discord/Twitter accounts.
Who’s the Founder?
Who’s behind the project? – what’s their qualifications / reputation? Does the data match up with the project? Check them out on Linkedin or on their social accounts. Some projects might have been created by a young kid too, this is where you’d DYOR and find articles to back up those claims.
Investors/ Artists involved?
This shows trustworthiness if there are well known investors or Artists involved. Check out their socials if it is Legit or not, if you find out that a kid created some NFTs, DYOR, double check. This gives you reassurance that they are a part of the project.
Partnerships?
Does the project have partnerships with other companies – If so, search deeper into what the purpose is, and what they are trying to achieve. For example, is Nike partnering with different projects, scope there socials or articles about this. Look into your favourite brands and see what you might find.
Step 2. Technical Data
All technical data is easy to find online, if it is hard to access or takes awhile to find, then there may be something off with it. If the project is new and has not launched, it can make it harder to carry out this part of the research. If that is the case, it is still good to check the Markets and Community section out.
Market Volume / Collection Analysis
This can be found under the project collection you are looking into, or in a particular NFT you are eyeing up. This will give you a general idea of what the trading volume is and previous sales traded in a time span. Check the price history, listing, and offers.
Supply
How many are circulating in the collection? You might come across NFT collections of 10,000, 5,000 or even smaller. If you get in early to the minting stage, some projects might have 10,000 NFTs up for grab, but only mint 5,000.
Distribution of the Collection
Do the initiators / founders hold the majority of the supply, or a high percentage already (30% – 40%) or even more? If they do hold more than the usual percentages, it could be considered a scam. Some projects hold a few for the likes of Future giveaways BUT not to a 30-40% rate.
Floor price
This is how much the buy in cost is, so it will come up with the lowest listed price for sale. Some projects will do something called a “floor sweep” this is where they will buy all the low priced Nfts in that collect for the benefits
Minting Rate / Marketplace Fees
If you find a project that is not up on the Marketplace yet, before the minting takes place. Make sure you have enough of the Buy in coin to cover fees (especially with gas prices), being a few dollars short can cut you out on the minting stage, especially if the project is popping off.
When purchasing on the marketplace, do I have enough to cover gas/transaction fees?
Important to know when Minting NFTs
If you find a project that is not up on the marketplace yet, make sure you have enough of the Buy in coin to cover fees (especially with gas prices). Being a few dollars short can cut you out on the minting stage, especially if the project is popping off.
Step 3. Markets & Community
Marketplace – Can I buy/sell it?
Am I looking in the right place? Is this marketplace legit? ALWAYS look for verified projects (blue tick), there are a few copycats out there.
Active Community
Is there an active community backing the project. Check leading forums (Discord, Twitter, Instagram etc.). Any engagement from active developers and creators. Do they have active social media accounts? They could have 10k followers on Twitter but engagement on posts could be less than 20 or full of BOTS!!
So dig deeper in this part. This will help you filter through if the project is a set up, or if they have a genuine community.
STAY ALERT
Unfortunately Scams and Fraud in the crypto space is very common, by following this Step by Step Guide, this will help you stay alert before investing in the NFT space.
Note: DO NOT SEND FUNDS FROM AN EXCHANGE! It can be an easy mistake for some people, most eco systems will prompt you to add a Wallet.