7 Best NFT Marketplaces & Trading Platforms in December 2024

To participate in the NFT craze, you will need to find NFT trading platforms. You can purchase and sell digital assets with these trading apps, from art to music to entire virtual worlds. An NFT trading platform is like the digital world’s Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).

Numerous NFT marketplaces exist, as is well known, each of which has a unique focus. So when selecting an NFT trading platform, what are the factors you should consider? And what are the top NFT trading platforms? Read on to learn more about NFT trading.

What is an NFT?

NFT stands for non-fungible token. It is a collectible digital asset that is stored on blockchain technology. NFTs are made up from encrypted codes that are all entirely unique. No two NFTs can ever be the same.

NFTs come in a range of forms including digital artwork, music, games and other media. In fact, any digital object can be an NFT including tweets, song lyrics and even domain names. The purpose of an NFT is to prevent fraud and to give each digital asset real world value. This makes it easier for digital creators to price and sell their work.

Traditional art, for example, can be easily duped and copied. However, this could not happen to an NFT. NFT owners are the sole owners of the assets that they purchase and the only way for anyone else to own them is to buy them for a higher price.

NFTs can be created and sold by anyone. However, for an NFT to have a high value it must be rare, popular or trending.

NFTs are built on blockchain technology. They are different from crypto assets because they are ‘non-fungible’- meaning that they are entirely unique and cannot be exchanged or replaced. Cryptos on the other hand can be exchanged for other tokens of the same value. For example, all ETH tokens have the same value and code.

The scarcity of NFTs is what drives the value up. There will only ever be one of each digital asset so collectors must outbid each other in order to own desirable NFTs.

How to Trade NFTs?

To start in this world, before looking for NFTs trading websites, you must know that NFTs are based on a spectrum of chains. At the beginning, the majority of NFTs were on Ethereum. As the crypto markets evolved, NFTs on other chains such as BSC gained popularity.

Beginners may want to consider Coinbase and eToro if they don’t already have an account on a crypto exchange.

Those that have a trading background, your marketplace choices will determine the type of art or collectible you can purchase. In addition, many of these websites offer secondary markets that include a variety of new financial transactions, but each platform has slightly different features.

A mobile app and Chrome extension for a crypto wallet is required. Many wallets are available, MetaMask is among the popular choices.

Install MetaMask, create a wallet, and transfer the ETH you purchased from Coinbase. You can find an in-depth video walkthrough of crypto wallets in the free Crypto & DeFi 101 guide if you’ve never used them before.

You can then interact with certain platforms like OpenSea using your MetaMask ETH address as a username and password. As soon as your wallet is connected, you need to start your researching what NFTs are worth buying.

Buy Your NFT

Once you have funded your account, purchasing an NFT is easy. First, you’ll need to place a bid for the NFT you want to purchase in most NFT trading apps since they are auction-based. Markets that combine the highest bid and the lowest ask for NFTs with several prints function more like exchanges.

In addition to resale value after the product goes on sale, one of the benefits of purchasing an NFT directly from the primary marketplace is its potential resale value.

The initial price of high-demand NFTs can be up to 10 times larger after they are released. However, NFTs bought on the primary market have the disadvantage of underestimating their value. If you purchase on the secondary market, you can compare the purchase to previous sales.

The price or value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. You must be satisfied that this crypto offering is suitable for you in light of your financial circumstances and attitude towards risk.

An Overview of The Best NFT Marketplaces to Use in 2024

Below is a closer look at each of the top nft trading platforms mentioned above. We spent time carefully reviewing each platform to find out they pros and cons and why they are worth considering.

1. Binance – Trade NFTs on one of the biggest crypto exchanges with advanced security and a top-rate user interface

Binance is the biggest crypto exchange in the market that also offers an NFT marketplace. The marketplace offers a range of digital assets including artwork, games and music.

The platform launched its NFT marketplace to allow exiting users to diversify their web3 investments and make it easier for crypto investors to access the NFT space.

The marketplace is supported by the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and all NFTs will meet BEP-721 standards.

Users will use BNB to cover gas fees that are associated with purchasing and selling NFTs on Binance. Fees associated with the Binance smart chain are significantly lower than those that are charged by the Ethereum network.

Users can use both fiat and cryptocurrencies to purchase NFTs through Binance. To use fiat currency, you must deposit money into your Binance account and then swap this for BNB. It is important to note that PayPal cannot be used to purchase NFTs through Binance.

The price or value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. You must be satisfied that this crypto offering is suitable for you in light of your financial circumstances and attitude towards risk.

2. OpenSea – Among the largest NFT marketplaces available in 2024

Almost all of NFT traders are familiar with OpenSea. The platform was launched back in 2017 and has undergone a number of developments since to make it the excellent platform that it is today.

OpenSea supports every category of NFT including art, games, music, books, domain names and much more. The platform supports assets that are built on several different chains such as ETH, BSC, ADA etc. In total, user scan choose from multiple different payment methods when purchasing NFTs.

To remain competitive, OpenSea launched a new NFT marketplace, ‘OpenSea Pro.’ The new NFT platform is optimized for gas fees, includes a cross-market feed and ultra low fees for offers created on the new platform, 0.5%..

OpenSea operates on an open-source blockchain that enables anyone to view platform transactions. This way, users can prove their ownership of NFTs after they have purchased them.

The price or value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. You must be satisfied that this crypto offering is suitable for you in light of your financial circumstances and attitude towards risk.

3. Axie Marketplace – Buy Axie NFTs and access the Axie Infinity web3 ecosystem

The Axie Marketplace is the native NFT marketplace of the Axie Infinity gaming ecosystem. Axie Infinity is a popular metaverse game through which players can earn tokens and collect NFTs. NFTs can then be sold and exchanged through the marketplace for real world value.

Axie Marketplace is unique from the other marketplaces on our list because it only offers Axie Infinity digital assets. Nevertheless, the game has reached over 100,000 monthly active users. Axie Infinity NFTs have been sold for thousands of dollars.

Axies are collectible characters that are highly sought after by players of the game. In 2021, an NFT from the marketplace was sold for around £1.5 million dollars to a collector.

Axies are virtual pets that have unique characteristics and features. Each feature correlates to the value of the NFT- the most desirable features are worth the most money. By playing the blockchain game, players can upgrade their NFT character, thus increasing the value.

When an NFT is sold on Axie Marketplace, the seller must pay a fee of 5.25%. However, the buyer does not need to pay any fees. This makes the platform a low cost option for investors. Part of the commission is paid to the creator of the platform and the rest goes towards developing the marketplace.

While buyers do not need to pay platform fees on this marketplace, gas fees may still occur. The fees that you may need to pay will vary depending on the chain. Ethereum has the highest gas fees. at the time of this writing. Therefore, it is important that you have enough crypto in your account to cover any fees that may be involved.

The price or value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. You must be satisfied that this crypto offering is suitable for you in light of your financial circumstances and attitude towards risk.

4. Magic Eden – Best art NFT trading platform built on Solana

Magic Eden is an NFT marketplace that is built on the Solana blockchain network. Creators can start listing their own collections on the platform with full control.

The NFT platform also supports Ethereum, Polygon (Matic) and Bitcoin.

To list an NFT collection on Magic Eden, creators must go through an application process. The aim of this is to maintain high standards across the platform.

Magic Eden supports NFT auctions and reselling. The platform itself is easy to use and offers a simple filtering design that makes it easy to find the NFT that you are searching for. Users can filter by creator, NFT type, price, and collection.

The platform is also integrated with Mini Royal- am online web3 game through which players can earn digital assets and trade these for NFTs.

Magic Eden recently partnered with LayerZero, a popular cross-chain communication protocol. The partnership provides creators on Magic Eden with the ability to mint NFTs that can be purchased or sold across a number of chains.

The price or value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. You must be satisfied that this crypto offering is suitable for you in light of your financial circumstances and attitude towards risk.

5. Nifty Gateway – A luxury NFT broker for exclusive assets

Nifty Gateway is a unique online NFT marketplace. The platform is built on blockchain technology and allows buyers and sellers to send and receive NFTs.

The main selling point of the platform is that it is exclusive. Creators must pay to list content and all content that is posted must go through the Nifty Gateway.

Nifty Gateway is a cryptocurrency exchange that acts as a walled garden to the NFT marketplace. Creators must meet certain requirements to use the platform which has led many reputable artists to use the platform in a bid to maintain their authority in their respective industries.

The marketplace lists high quality creations from well-known artists- random NFT creators cannot lost their work here.

Artists will often use Nifty to release ‘drops’. These events attract hundreds of fans and usually sell out quickly. Nifty accepts payment with debit card and credit card as well as crypto assets.

Nifty lists valuable NFTs and has positioned itself as a luxury NFT marketplace.

The price or value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. You must be satisfied that this crypto offering is suitable for you in light of your financial circumstances and attitude towards risk.

6. Rarible –A well-known NFT marketplace that is home to some of the most well-known NFTs

Rarible is one of the most widely used NFT marketplaces that lists a variety of NFTs by various creators.

The NFT marketplace supports Ethereum, Polygon (Matic), Immutable X and Tezos.

Rarible’s users must have a crypto wallet to use the marketplace. When you purchase an NFT from Rarible, it is sent to your crypto wallet for storage.

Anyone who owns a crypto wallet can access the marketplace. However, the value of NFTs will depend on demand and only sought after pieces will sell for significant profit. Rarible is continuously making upgrades to its marketplace and is positioned to be a big player in the web3 space.

The price or value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. You must be satisfied that this crypto offering is suitable for you in light of your financial circumstances and attitude towards risk.

7. Crypto.com – A reputable exchange for buying and selling NFTs

Crypto.com launched its highly anticipated NFT marketplace in 2021 and it has been a success ever since. Since the launch of the NFT platform, Crypto.com has collaborated with numerous artists, musicians and brands to offer highly sought after NFTs to collectors.

Amongst the most popular NFTs available include an NFTs by artist the Snoop Dogg and formula 1 brand Aston Martin.  The NFTs listed on Crypto.com aim to appeal to collectors who are interested in pop culture and keeping up with trends.

Crypto.com has been working hard on it’s NFT offering and the platform has seen major growth and development over the past year. This includes partnerships with major sports teams which has put Crypto.com front and center at big matches. Their collaboration with sports teams has been great for the platform, with fans rushing to purchasing rare team NFTs.

The price or value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. You must be satisfied that this crypto offering is suitable for you in light of your financial circumstances and attitude towards risk.

What Are The Risks of Trading NFTs?

NFTs have become very popular digital assets since the sale of one $69 million NFT in 2021. If NFTs are purchase through safe platforms, the risks of investing are fairly low. However, there is always a chance that you could lose money when investing in NFTs especially if its value drops.

The main risk involved with investing in NFTs is value depreciation. If an NFT loses popularity or is linked to a media controversy, the value of the NFT may drop. This could happen at any time and investors must keep an eye on the news and media to look out for warning signs.

This risk is particularly large when investing in NFTs that are linked to celebrities’ or sports teams. If the celebrity pr sports team receives negative backlash, any products relating to them are likely to lose value.

Legal and Regulatory Challenges

NFTs are difficult to categorize and therefore difficult to regulate. As a result, the regulations surrounding NFTs is constantly changing which can pose difficulties to investors. Despite problems with categorizing NFTs, some regulatory bodies have put laws in place to control the market.

In Europe, NFTs are regulated under the Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation which provides a framework for regulating the assets. This framework can be used to regulate the selling, purchasing and listing of NFTs and will also be used to monitor NFT marketplace activity.

However, the categorization of NFTs is not crystal clear and laws may change in the future. This is largely because all NFTs are different types of digital product and do not fit into one box. For example, an art NFT is very different in characteristics from a web domain NFT.

Before investing in NFTs, you should conduct research into laws that are in place in your jurisdiction. These could change at anytime and it is important to be prepared for this.

Evaluation Challenges

Another major challenge faced by the NFT industry is that of valuating assets. There is no clear guidance around how to value each digital asset which makes it difficult to determine whether an NFT holds real value or is in fact overvalued on the listing.

Much of the time, the value of an NFT is determined by demand, rarity and market trends. However, this cannot be confirmed until after the initial listing.

The rarity however can be assessed. Lets say the creator minted 5,000 NFTs. In order to make them more unique, only 500 NFTs have a particular trait like a golden star.

As only 500 out of the 5,000 NFTs have this trait, they are considered rare and have a greater value than the remaining NFTs. Rarity Sniper is one online tool used for assessing NFTs values.

Intellectual Property Rights

Another grey area for NFT holders is individual ownership rights. These rights refer to whether or not the asset is owned by the seller or buyer. Many people argue that blockchain technology means that the NFT is owned by whoever has access to the wallet where it is stored.

Once a smart contract has transferred an NFT into a buyer’s wallet, they should technically have full ownership of the asset. However, this is a problem for some creators who wish to retain a small fraction of ownership over the work that they create.

The ownership of an NFT is determined by metadata and blockchain transactions. This prevents people from simply taking photos of NFTs and claiming to own them. An NFT is the underlying code and not the external image/product.

Cyber Security and Fraud Risks

Overall, blockchain is considered to be highly secure. However, cyber criminals and bad actors are continually enhancing their technologies which could put the NFT market at risk. For example, fake NFT stores have started to emerge online. These stores target new investors who are attracted to low prices. Fake NFT marketplaces profit from selling images of NFTs that are not original. In some cases, the buyers receive nothing in return for their payment.

The best way to avoid falling victim to fraud is to stay away from unknown marketplaces. It is also a good idea to conduct thorough research into the NFT that you would like to purchase. Most NFT collections will reveal where they will be listed.

Smart Contract Risks and NFT Maintenance

Smart contracts are entirely digital which puts them at risk of hacking. Hackers are sometimes able to get into networks and steel valuable assets from wallets and exchanges. This is why we recommend storing your NFTs on a cold wallet that is not connected to the internet.

Cold wallets are similar to USD sticks. Investors can upload digital assets onto these wallets and then store them away from the web. When you are ready to sell or exchange, simply re-upload your assets to a hot wallet so that you can access decentralized platforms.

Popular NFT Trading Strategies

Making huge returns has always been the goal of trading NFTs. While there are several options you can choose from to achieve your goal, and we’ve put together the following five strategies to help you make smart investment decisions:

Buy the Floor

A floor price of an NFT is the lowest price that it is ever listed at. From here, the value of the asset can only go up. Buying at the floor is a low risk way of investing in NFTs because buyers can profit from long term appreciation and growth.

If you invest in an NFT at floor price, you may be able to resell it for a higher value. However, not all low price NFTs will do well in the market. Random NFTs from unknown creators are never likely to increase from their floor price. Therefore, it is important to do your research and find an asset that has potentially. Look out for collections from well-known figures or web3 projects.

The price or value of cryptocurrencies can rapidly increase or decrease at any time. You must be satisfied that this crypto offering is suitable for you in light of your financial circumstances and attitude towards risk.

Search for NFT’s Google Trends

One good way to find strong NFTs is to conduct a simple Google search. Using Google trends can give you an overview of what users are interested in. You could use the same research method on other platforms too such as Reddit and Twitter.

For example, if Elon Musk is a trending topic, Elon related NFTs are likely to increase in value. If you manage to buy an Elon NFT before the trend hits it’s peak, you could make a profit.

Trends can have a huge impact on the value of an NFT and it is important to keep up with the latest trends if you are interested in NFT collecting.

Value Strategy

To make money from NFTs, you will need to find NFTs that have a high value. One way to determine this is to look at supply. An NFT will have a high value is the supply is low but the demand is high.

For instance, an NFT collection with a supply of 10 but a demand of 200 interested buyers will have a much higher value than a collection of 200 with a demand of 200. Of course, these numbers are just an example and the actual demand for an NFT is difficult to determine.

The bottom line is that you should be considering potential value when buying an NFT. Just because the NFT is being sold for a low price, doesn’t mean that it is a good investment. The price will stay low if demand remains low.

Conclusion

NFTs are a great alternative investment option for 2024. Luckily, it is possible to invest in some NFTs for a low price and make profits overtime as demand increases.

In this article, we have revealed some of the best NFT marketplaces that allow you to list and purchase NFTs. Each marketplace has its own key features, pros and cons and it is important to conduct thorough research before making any final decisions.

With that being said, our recommended marketplace is NFT OpenSea because it is secure, low cost and exhaustive. To start, we suggest buying cryptocurrencies from eToro, a safe, regulated broker and crypto exchange.

Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.

FAQs