Everyone asks, “How do I make money with NFTs?” But, to Flip or to Hodl? That is the question!

*I am not a financial advisor and this is NFA*

I’ll be totally honest with you, when I first got into the NFT space I had no idea what I was doing. I had a family member step me through the basics, but I was so overwhelmed by the tremendous amount of new knowledge that was being presented to me that I was really just buying things up with little clue as to how to profit from those purchases. I just thought that what I was buying was cool and exciting. If you’re anything like me, the FOMO from all the hype surrounding NFTs overshadowed my desire to make rational money-conscious decisions, and I think it’s safe to say that that’s what most of us want with NFTs, is to have art in a community that we’re stoked on, and to turn a profit. Just like any other investment, be it real estate, stocks, etc., you have to decide what the ultimate goal or utility is for each investment and run with it. If you’re not making those decisions thoughtfully, then you’re most likely going to lose money on them. Do you flip the housing property you just bought or do you Airbnb it out? Do you invest in that tech stock for long haul gains or do you hope to make a quick buck and sell before it dips back down again? These are the same sort of questions you should be asking yourself when looking at NFTs. Are you wanting to flip them to put immediate liquidity back in your pocket or are you thinking more long term for the project hoping they offer incentives for holding while gradually increasing in value over time?

Listed below are 4 different methods that I’ve learned one can possibly use to make an income from NFTs.

Method #1: The Mint Flip

Step 1.) If possible, get on WLs (“whitelists”) or pre-sale lists for dope projects.

Step 2.) Buy a set amount of NFTs on mint day.

Step 3.) Flip some of those NFTs to either nullify the mint costs or turn a profit.

For example, mint 3 NFTs then turn right around after the collection has sold out and sell 2 of them on the secondary market for more than what it cost to mint them, if possible. This allows you to retain 1 NFT from the project and still have crypto to do this over and over again. Now, this doesn’t always work out as planned. I have personally minted a project with this method in mind only to have the floor go way below mint cost and I am unable to sell them for more than what I purchased them for. (When this happens, see Method #4: The Long Hodl.)

Method #2: The Post Mint Flip

Step 1.) Wait till after public mint has finished and purchase your NFTs on the secondary market the same day.

Step 2.) Look for steals as a lot of people won’t understand their NFT’s rarity or be willing to sell cheap as they’re trying to turn a quick buck (we call these flippers “paperhands,” since they don’t hold on to their NFTs for long.)

Most often, if you can’t get on a whitelist or pre-sale spot for minting the NFT you like, the public mint is more expensive and not always the most economical time to purchase your NFT. (For example, a WL mint might be the day before and only .05 ETH, while the public mint is the following day and now costs .08 to mint.) Sometimes, in these scenarios, it is best to let the public mint lapse without purchasing any NFTs and then picking them up off the secondary market where paperhands will unload their NFTs for usually cheaper than the public mint price. People do this for two reasons. One, they either bought at the discount WL price and are now turning a profit selling at or below public mint price or, two, they have decided to sell their NFTs at a loss or at mint price because they simply do not want to hold that particular NFT.

Method #3: The Sniper Flip

Step 1.) Use a rarity “sniper” tool to find and buy rare NFTs listed for cheap (think, near the floor) on the secondary market.

Step 2.) Purchase the NFT and relist it for a profit.

This method, as with most anything, is all about timing. If you’re too late to the notification of the snipe, someone else will surely grab it. So, it pays to have some crypto liquidity handy to snatch up these NFTs quickly for a profitable flip. To find a list of rarity sites to help with this method be sure to check out Noob2NFTs NFTs Links Page under the rarity sites tab!

*One word of caution, for those hoping to use this method on the Ethereum blockchain, is gas. The gas, or Gwei, as mentioned in other posts on Noob2NFTs What is NFT Gas? Gwei? page, is the cost of doing business on the network. Think of them as taxes or transaction fees. And if you’re hoping to make money with ETH NFTs (not just with flips, but all transactions), you need to be mindful of how much gas is at any given time, because high gas can eat away at all of your potential profits. (Most current gas prices can be found on NFT project’s Discords.)

Method #4: The Long Hodl

Step 1.) Mint or purchase your NFT at the price you think is fair and appropriate.

Step 2.) Hodl (“hold”) the NFT for as long as you desire.

Step 3.) Take advantage of any passive income holding your NFT might offer.

See this page to expand on passive income opportunities with NFTs [link to How to Make Passive Income from NFTs (Coming Soon!)]

This last method is for those of us who aren’t trying to spend their days flipping NFTs to make a profit. They’re in it for the long hodl and want to make passive income from one of the many ways an NFT project can make that possible for their hodlers. They wanna sit back and slowly make incremental gains or wait and see if their particular NFT projects moons or not. Some NFTs have tons of utility for those willing to stick around for them, other NFTs are more about prestige and flexing than anything else, but regardless, many NFT projects become incredibly popular and stay that way, making hodling one quite lucrative in the long run. But it’s important to bear in mind that just as many projects, possibly more, will fail as well.

Now that you know some of the tricks of the trade when it comes to making income off your NFTs feel free to play around and see what works for you. None of these are rock solid to guarantee you gains, but they can at least get the ball rolling for you so that you can ultimately decide what method, or methods, work best for you!

And, again, this is NFA and I am not a financial advisor. Always DYOR and decide if investing in NFTs is right for you.