How Much I Made Flipping NFTs
I Tried Flipping NFTs
Over the last 7 months I have buying and selling NFTs. So did I make any money? Let’s find out.
It’s been fun diving into the world of NFTs over the past year. I like that a lot of digital artists have been able to make money from their art, which is really great. I think being able to collect digital art is a good thing… however, I’m not sure I’m completely sold on NFTs as they exist in their current state – at least on the Ethereum blockchain where most NFTs live.
There’s plenty of problems, like the environmental impact of proof of work, the high gas fees when transacting on the blockchain, and the scammers that run amuck in this world. The bottom line for me is I’m looking forward to seeing how the world of NFTs evolve and hopefully rectify some of its core issues.
The NFTs I Bought
So let’s take a quick look at some of the NFTs I purchased. First I minted 10 passports for Woodies. These passports could be bought and sold on the secondary market and eventually swapped in for a unique character generated in real time.
Then, I bought a Deadfella on the secondary market as this was another project with interesting art that was gaining some steam. I actually regretted selling it so soon, so that same day, I bought another Deadfella for .985. I was thinking it might see a spike in interest with Halloween coming up just around the corner.
Next, I minted three Angry Boars. I did zero research, just saw that it dropped, and I took a flier on it and minted 3.
Then, I tried minting this 40-edition drop from Jonathan Nash, whom I’ve collaborated with on several NFTs in the past and he remains one of my favorite artists in this space. I wasn’t able to mint one for .5 ETH, so I bought it on the secondary market for 1.4ETH.
I bought a Sad Girls Bar NFT, a Punkscape, and Divine Order of the Zodiac.
I minted a couple Crypto Gawds… then Woodies released collectible cards for metaverse games yet to be released, so I minted one pack of four cards for .06. And then I minted something called Masks of Ether for .08.
My most expensive NFT was from ArtBlocks which has curated artists with their own drops, and I bought one called Aerial Views for 1.528. Artblocks is well-known in the NFT space, and this seemed like a relatively inexpensive way to get a piece of it.
I, then, got a few other special mints from holding Deadfellaz and Woodies NFTs. Deadfellaz released a new offshoot collection called DeadFrenz, and I minted a pass for only the cost of gas. I eventually redeemed that pass for a lil’ guy for just the cost of gas as well.
I believe that wraps up just about every NFT I bought, so let’s look into some of the qualities I look for in projects to flip.
Which Ones?
Now I’m certainly not an NFT expert. Some projects I invested in were a bit of a bust, which I’ll show you next, but here are some things to keep in mind.
The Art
First, do you like the art? Obviously, Crypto Punks and Bored Apes may make it seem like art doesn’t really matter, but since everyone and their mom has now created their own NFT, I think supporting projects where you appreciate the art matters.
The Developers
The next thing to consider is the team behind the NFTs. Have they established a solid reputation in the industry, or are their identities unknown, masked behind an avatar? There have been a lot of pump and dump scammy projects where the developers abandon their road map after a successful launch. You’ll have better luck investing in projects with a solid, reputable team behind it.
The Community
Community is a big thing that NFT fans are usually all about. Every project has a Discord server and a Twitter presence, but a vast majority of projects have purchased followers or Discord members in the form of bots, and there isn’t actually a strong community behind the project. I think a project that does have a strong community is Woodies. People love the art, the lore, the mission, and the potential. Even long after mint, this community is still holding strong.
Amount of Owners
When it comes to generative PFP projects of several thousand NFTs, a metric I keep an eye on is the amount of owners. Usually, the more owners – the more individual people investing in a project – the better. So Bored Ape Yacht Club for instance is a 10k project and has 6400 owners. Deadfellaz has 6200… and Woodies 3900. I really want Woodies to break 5,000 owners to have more people interested in the project.
So those are just a few of the aspects to consider when buying NFTs.
Flipping NFTs
Now, let’s look at some of my flips.
The first one I flipped was this Deafella. I held it for six days and made a profit of .35 ETH.
The PunkScape – minted for .03 – I sold for .4 just two days later.
I sold my Sad Girls bar for a small profit – just .082 after holding it for 132 days.
For my Woodies – I still like this project a lot – but I did want to liquidate some of my collection, so I sold 3 for .23 each, for a total profit of .45 ETH on these three . I held them for about 160 days.
I sold my Angry Boars for a total profit of .3 ETH after holding for 35 days since the mint.
The Deadfren that I minted for free (minus gas) was sold for .35.
And lastly, I finally sold my Deadfella for 2.5, realizing a profit of 1.5151
Some Losers
Now there are plenty of different NFTs I minted that I probably won’t be able to sell for a profit or maybe even at all. When a project doesn’t take off, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to find a buyer at all, so here are some I will count as complete losses.
Gawds
Masks of Ether
Divine
Wondermist
Now, my biggest L – these ArtBlocks AerialView piece. To be honest, I wasn’t super in love with the art itself, I didn’t really know anything about the creator other than being part of Artblocks, and it was kind of an impulse purchase. I currently have mine listed below the floor at .4 ETH, so if I sell it for that, I will take a -1.128 loss, which absolutely sucks.
Unrealized Gains
So let’s look at the last few from my collection that I haven’t sold yet but will likely sell for profit.
I have 7 Woodies left and the floor is currently .162. They have a liquidity pool which allows you to trade in your Woodies for the floor price without having to find a buyer, so I could realize a total profit of .574 on those guys today.
I listed my Jonathan Nash animation just below the floor at 1.65, so if it sells, that would be a profit of .25.
Totals
So after all of that, did I make a profit?
Well I spent 5.221 ETH on NFTs.
I spent .86265 on gas fees… and here’s the other thing I hate: when a transaction fails, you still have to pay gas, so .02715 was just wasted for nothing.
So my total expenses are about 6 ETH.
So far, I’ve sold 5.56 ETH…. so gas fees make my current realized situation a loss of about .5 ETH… but I am confident in my unrealized gains, so if we realize them for the sake of this video, I will stand to make a total profit of 2.744 ETH.
At Ethereum’s current price, that is roughly a $9,000 profit over the last 7 months. Not too bad.
Regrets
I try not to look back in hindsight too much because I don’t think it’s super helpful, but I do have some regrets by holding onto a few things too long.
Recently, Deadfellaz hit a floor price of 4.8. Previous to this, I listed my Deadfella for 5ETH and when it ramped up, it probably would have sold, but I decided to take the listing down, despite the fact that it would be a 5x return on my investment and a massive profit. But with NFTs, it can be hard to know if something is going to stall out or become the next Bored Ape… so I held it, and the floor price receded pretty quickly.
So that was a pretty big disappointment.
The other thing I kind of regret from a pure flipping perspective is my Woodie Mint Passes. I minted ten of these for a total of .8 ETH. Within a week or two, these passes were being sold on the secondary market for .9 ETH each. Selling all of my passes at the peak would’ve been a profit of 8.2 ETH, which is absolutely wild. But part of the fun is trading in the passes for a character, and some of the characters with unique traits were selling for 10ETH, so it was a gamble.
So between those two projects alone, I left a lot of profit on the table… but we are looking back in hindsight, and much like trading stocks, it’s easy to see what the right move was with future information, but in the moment, it’s much more difficult.
Final Thoughts
NFTs go through cycles like any other market and since it’s directly tied to the price of Ethereum, you have another variable at play as well. I did have a lot of fun flipping NFTs and look forward to seeing how this world develops in the future.
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