Where did I stick my nose? My experience with NFT marketplaces

This crazy NFT movement has once again started its assault on the crypto market. In just a week, the trading volume exceeded $179 million – something that hasn't happened since April! The punks have completely lost it – a rise of 665%! And as always, the big players get all the attention, while newcomers like me are left confused.

In short, I decided to figure out where the best place is to trade these digital toys while the market is on the rise. I'm sharing my findings – without embellishments and sweet promises.

OpenSea is like the coolest platform in the ecosystem. It offers a bunch of different NFTs: from digital art to virtual worlds. It operates on Ethereum but also gets along with other blockchains. According to Tiexo.com, OpenSea accounts for 27.5% of the entire market with a daily turnover of about $4.92 million. They take 2.5% from each secondary sale – not a small amount, by the way!

Magic Eden – the second in the ranking. A multi-chain platform that works with Solana, Polygon, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. Recently connected ApeChain, Base, and Arbitrum. Lately, they have started to seriously challenge OpenSea, especially after adding support for Bitcoin Ordinals. Their turnover is currently $4.76 million – breathing down the neck of the leader.

Blur is a platform for "professionals," as they call themselves. It is for those who actually earn from NFTs, not just collect them. It operates on Ethereum and Blast. Last year, it even surpassed OpenSea and Magic Eden! It offers secured lending and allows viewing OpenSea listings directly from Blur – cleverly devised. The turnover is currently $4.02 million.

There is also Tensor – a good platform on Solana with a bunch of advanced features. It offers market-making for NFTs and various tools for bulk operations. Convenient for those who want deep liquidity and fast transactions. The turnover is about $2.49 million.

Rarible is also a good platform - it works with different blockchains: Ethereum, Solana, Tezos, IMX, and Polygon. They have their own management system through the $RARI tokens. Artists can create NFTs without programming skills - even I was able to figure it out!

For beginners like me, there is Mintable – they do not charge a fee for issuing NFTs. It has a very friendly interface, supports all formats, and requires minimal technical knowledge.

SuperRare positions itself as an "elite" platform – like only for selected artists. Of course, they wouldn't let me in with my scribbles. However, the quality of the works is high if you are a buyer with a fat wallet.

There are specialized platforms like CryptoPunks – but there are only pixelated punks for insane amounts of money. And of course, major exchanges also want to take a bite out of the pie – the same major exchange has its own NFT platform with low fees.

I tried several platforms and realized - this market is wild, like the Wild West. A lot of money is circulating, Trump's NFTs are soaring, everyone wants to hop on the departing train... And then prices will crash, and someone will be left with worthless pictures. But for now, it's fun!