How to find NFT projects early in 2022

NFT adoption surged in 2021 as its integration with the Metaverse diversified NFT’s use cases. From proof-of-ownership, buying and selling virtual real estate, tickets, PFPs, hosting art galleries with NFT art to trading them as a token or in- game cryptocurrency. NFT sales hit US$ 17.6 billion in 2021, an increase of 21,000% from 2020, according to a DApp radar report.

While there are many popular NFT projects, like Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Otherdeeds virtual land, which became the largest NFT mint possible. However, most are primary sales, with US$ 833 million in primary sales within days of its launch, according to The Block. This suggests that people find NFT projects early and few will score the NFT they want. 

In this guide, we’ll show you how to identify NFT projects early and what you should keep in mind if you want to make sound choices when investing in NFTs.

What to keep in mind before buying an NFT? 

1. Keep in mind that not all NFTs are created equal. Most NFTs are minted on the Ethereum blockchain, but it has become beset by network congestion and high gas fees, making it a less attractive blockchain compared to other blockchains like Solana.
   
   

2. Make sure you have access to a wallet that allows you to store the cryptocurrencies you are using and the NFTs you wish to hold. Metamask is the most commonly used when it comes to buying and storing NFTs.
   
   

3. Find a marketplace to browse the potential NFT and see what’s on offer, whether it’s collectibles or a standalone NFT. Different marketplaces have different benefits, communities and run on different blockchains. A few larger marketplaces to consider are: 

• OpenSea: the first and largest NFT marketplace.

• Nifty’s: an eco-friendly NFT marketplace offering NFTs curated by leading artists and big brands.

• Rarible: a community-owned NFT marketplace with a focus on art assets, users can buy and sell NFTs in categories like art, photography, games, Metaverses, music, domains and more. 

• Foundation: a specialist platform that aims to bring together digital artists, crypto natives and collectors to create a new creative economy. 

How to find NFT projects early

Do your own research

DYOR, or Do your own research is the key to recognizing NFT projects with massive potential before their official mint takes place. You can browse an NFT project and look for the following features:

• Website and social media: Review the project’s description, background, vision, mission, developers and road map on its website and social media (Twitter, Discord, Telegram etc). 

• The team behind the project: Find out whether the team has a good reputation in the NFT space.

• Tokenomics: if the NFT is linked to a token, find out its market cap, trading volume, all-time-highs and all-time lows.

• What people are saying about the project: Through trusted news outlets, or social media.
  
  

Twitter

Twitter is the go-to platform to identify NFT projects early. It is the most coveted networking, advertising platform and the hub for the NFT community. NFT projects, creators and collections are marketed on Twitter. The larger the fan base of a project’s account is, the greater the project’s credibility, perceived value and reputation are.

You can follow the project’s important updates, drop timeline and roadmap on Twitter. The project’s website, Discord and other social media pages are usually linked to the NFT project’s Twitter account.

Discord

A large Discord community backing an NFT project is a sign that an NFT project is thriving. It’s the platform where NFT projects market themselves because of the high level of engagement of the NFT community. It’s where you’ll find whitelisted wallets, announcements, updates and support from the NFT community. 

Discord is an invitation-only “private community” platform, where inside information can be accessed.

OpenSea activity

OpenSea tools offer NFT project’s activity and watch whether it’s trending, its sales, and recurring collections on the OpenSea activity tab. You can view minute-by-minute transactions, statistics like the average price and owners. Look for projects with ascending all-time average price and graphs. 

rarity.tools

rarity.tools is a great platform for finding new NFT projects and evaluating the rarity of the NFT project. The higher its rarity, the greater is resale value and profit potential.

It is a platform that generates the rarity scores of NFT projects and arranges NFTs according to its rarity score, #1 to indicate the rarest NFT project and so on. The NFTs are given a Rarity score for all traits and added up to become the total Rarity score.  This allows you to estimate your future returns.

NFT Calendar

This is a platform for every upcoming NFT drop. Projects are submitted on the website with the list constantly updating, which allows you free access and research early prior to the NFT mint. You can also access links to the project on NFT calendar to aid your research such as Twitter to view their engagement and Discord to see the community they have and its involvement in the project.

NFT Calendar also promotes projects that are hosted on multiple blockchains.

Other platforms to find NFT projects early

Other platforms to determine NFT value to jump in mint early are Icy.tool, which allows users to view data directly from the blockchains such as  real-time mints, market patterns, NFT metrics such as floor prices, volume and transaction history but with an associated fee. Other free platforms to find early NFT projects include Youtube, Instagram, Reddit and Telegram. 

Photo: Unsplash