Buying and selling something for profit is one of the most common activities we know of. When we buy an NFT, we have ownership over that item and with that the possibility of profit with the difference between the purchase and sale value. In the financial market this player is called a trader, in the NFT market it is the flipper. I believe that 99% of people who purchase NFTs are flippers at some point in their lives, whether in the short, medium, long or very long term.

It is true that many people do not have a large amount of capital to start in the NFT world as a holder and it is very healthy for the entire ecosystem to have the flipper, as it generates availability and diversity of pieces of a collection for collectors. However, many people enter this universe and believe that they will multiply their money at the speed of light, and with that they fail to pay attention to simple principles, which make a negotiation financially successful.

Before talking about the main commandments I've learned over time in art trading, I need to say that if you believe that NFT is a fad and you can't see a promising long-term future for this market, you may be in the wrong place.

Why do I say that? Simply because if you don't believe in this premise, you will lose money in the market. See that HOLDERS do not care about the floor value, because they are SURE that in the long term the investment will be much more valued than what he invested. The flipper who does not believe this may end up despairing with the floor value, believing that the piece will never rise in price and this only brings financial damage to himself, as he will sell at any price to avoid the “announced loss” . With that in mind, let's get to the interesting part.

1 - NEVER put all your capital in purchase.

This should be the main premise of every flipper. Never, under any circumstances, put everything you have in one piece. The market is not a casino, NFT is not a gambling game. The flipper that escapes this rule has a GREAT chance of seeing its capital drastically reduced, since when the long-awaited scaling of the art value doesn't happen, most of the time there's a wave of despair taking over some people and they start to dispute who takes the greatest loss, that is, who places a lower price. And if you put everything you have, you will surely be one of those people.

2 - Avoid undercut.

- If you haven't invested much of your capital in that art, breaking the floor price is a bad strategy. When you want to make the sale, a great strategy in this case is to place the sale at the same value as the floor is. Stop to think for a moment, will a collector care for pennies less to acquire the piece? If he is interested and wants something at the lowest price, he will choose the one he likes best among the values closest to the floor, not necessarily the cheapest, it is a mistake to believe that being the cheapest for an almost null difference will cause your piece to be picked firste. This only happens when the difference is really big from the first lowest value to the second lowest value. In addition, when you decrease you are encouraging other people to do the same, and when you least expect it, the value will be so low that it won't even be worth making the sale anymore.

3 - Search, avoid FOMO.

- One of the activities that the successful flipper and also the collector does is research. Twitter is your best friend in this, a great tool for you to find work that really makes sense and that you see potential to increase your invested capital. Even if you don't have a lot of experience, look for works of value, look for artists, understand the market you're in. Avoid FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), often because of this fear of missing out, we invest beyond what we can, and making bad choices. It is much more advantageous to collect art that you truly believe has added value than to buy it just because everyone else is buying it and then repentance it.

4 - Promote the artists and works you collect.

- Promote of a piece you bought is a smart way for you to value your investment, with very little effort on your part. It is wrong to believe that it is trivial and that you are doing the artist a favor by promoting their art. The more people talk, share, praise, like that work, the greater the possibility of reaching more people, generating more sales, increasing the floor value and you being able to make a good sale. Remember: you are giving value to your time and money with this simple attitude.

5 - Be a flipper, but also a holder.

- Having a balanced collection is one of the recipes for success. Thinking about the short, medium and long term will make your profit multiply exponentially. Of course, in the beginning, those who have little capital will need to create financial ballast for longer investments. But this should be one of the MAIN OBJECTIVE of every flipper. If you think you made a lot of money because you sold a art and made a profit of 100%, imagine in a few months or years having a profit of more than 1000%, 2000%, 5000% (and sometimes in the long run that percentage is very bigger than that). Patience is the main quality here, you know that idea of “I bought it and forgot I have it”, that's what should happen. So it is very important that in your collection you have that icing on the cake that maybe in a little while, or maybe in a few years you will pay all your investment with just one sale. The big whales in the market inject a lot of money and have this vision, so why not learn from the big ones? So increase your capital by flipping and increase even more by holding, this is the fifth and final commandment of the successful flipper.

I hope this somehow makes sense to you. This article was created with the aim of helping a large part of the market that operates in art trading, thus helping the ecosystem as a whole. One of the most amazing things about the NFT market is that everyone can get along, whether you're an artist, a flipper or a holder, the place is very democratic and has space for everyone.

Twitter: @playmannft

Website: playman.me/