How to buy NFTs

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve almost certainly heard of NFTs or non-fungible tokens. They’re becoming increasingly popular and you may have thought “How do I buy one” so you can get in on it early or even purely out of curiosity. While buying an NFT isn’t that difficult it isn’t exactly straightforward either. The brunt of the work is in the setup required to be able to purchase an NFT, while the transaction itself is surprisingly quick and easy. This guide will help you get the basic knowledge you need to buy your first NFT and hopefully prevent any unnecessary headaches.

1. Get a wallet

While you may be keen on immediately jumping onto a marketplace like digitaleyes and using your credit card to get an NFT it isn’t so simple. To buy an NFT you need a cryptocurrency, but to get and use cryptocurrency on the marketplaces you’ll need a crypto wallet. Your first choice is between hosted and self-custody wallets. Hosted is the more popular option where a third party keeps the crypto for you, similar to banks with regular money. 

Even if you lose your password you don’t immediately lose all your cryptocurrency. You may wonder what’s the catch though. In this case, the downside is not being able to access all features from cryptocurrencies, however, if you only want to buy and sell NFTs this won’t pose an issue to you. shouldn’t prove to be that big of a downside and the added security is an amazing tradeoff that you should consider. Another option is a self-custody wallet. It will allow you far greater freedom and allow you to access every feature crypto has to offer including but not limited to lending, borrowing, and yield farming. 

Keep in mind though that if you lose your password you will lose access to all of your cryptocurrency and anyone who gets your password can easily get access to your cryptocurrency. The final option, which is similar to self-custody, is a hardware wallet. They are physical devices that you purchase and use to store crypto offline. While the level of security they provide is quite high, it can be pretty inconvenient to use and they also have a cost, unlike the previous two options. Choose the option and/or platform for the wallet based on how easy it is to set up and their security level. Then you simply need to create an account with them to get your wallet up and running.

2. Get some cryptocurrency

Now that you have a wallet it’s time to fill it up. The first thing to do is to choose a crypto trading service. There are multiple options but cryptocurrency exchanges are the most easy-to-use option and contain the most features. Depending on which exchange you are using you may or may not be required to enter personal info. Decentralized exchanges do not require your info and allow you to retain anonymity. While this may seem like a risk it also does have the benefit of assisting people who live in countries where bank access isn’t as easy. Centralized exchanges follow laws that require ID to be submitted and their feature list has been growing ever since. 

Another thing of note is that not all exchanges have the same cryptocurrencies for trading. Pretty much all of them have Bitcoin and Ethereum (which we will need) so for NFT trading purposes this isn’t that big of a deal, however, it is good to keep in mind if you do end up needing other cryptocurrencies for whatever reason. After choosing your preferred option simply make an account. 

This may require certain kinds of info to do, but after you have set your account up it’s time to connect a payment option. Some banks may stop transactions to crypto trading sites so make sure to research your bank and if they will accept your transactions just in case. After all this, you can finally purchase cryptocurrency. For NFTs, you’ll be needing ETH so you’ll need to purchase Ethereum from the exchange. After placing an order and afterward transferring it to your crypto wallet you can finally start purchasing NFTs.

3. Get your NFTs

Once you’ve completed the previous steps you can finally go to an NFT market. The first thing to do is create an account and connect your wallet to the market site. This is a pretty simple process and most markets will make it simple to find the option. Once you’ve connected it you can begin browsing all the NFTs the market has to offer. As each NFT is unique, not all are created equal. Some are viewed as rare and thus their price will be very high, while others are incredibly cheap. Many markets use an auction system for NFTs which means you will need to compete with other users via bidding if you’re not the only one interested in the specific NFT you’re aiming for. Bear in mind however that despite how much the NFTs may cost there is a transaction fee, sometimes called a “gas” fee. If the fee is too high right now it may be worth it to come back later to not pay more for the fee than the NFT. This fluctuates depending on how busy the market is and you need to pay it for any NFT purchase you wish to conduct. Lastly, remember to do your research if you decide to make a purchase. Not every NFT will skyrocket in price and popularity and always keep in mind not only the possible reward but also the risk.