Transparency
(last update: August 23rd 2022)
Most influencers in the crypto/NFT space are not transparent about their own trading. Some may highlight a few winning trades to build some reputation. Many won’t tell you, most importantly, when the project they’re talking about is one that they themselves have bought up cheap, and want to sell out of. Some use secret wallets to do this dumping.
I believe this is unethical behaviour.
In the spirit of inspiring better behaviour from everyone else, I’m trying to set a high standard for what should be expected: namely total transparency over both current positions and past positions, with a public trading journal that explains why trades were made, why things are listed, etc. More thoughts on this here.
I am not yet an influencer. At the time of writing, I am slowly approaching 10k followers. Most people who call themselves influencers in the NFT space have more than 10 times the followers. This also means that doing this is easier for me - I don’t have thousands of trades to account for.
I hope that I will inspire other influencers to at least publish a subset of what I’m including in their own transparency report. I also hope that seeing a breakdown of how I’ve come about these opportunities and how I think about them can be instructive to others (if only to avoid my dumbest mistakes).
I will do my best to update this page at least weekly to keep track of my trades, so you always know exactly what my position is, when I talk about a project.
Also worth noting that I am including both my and my wife’s portfolio in this, since she trades based on my advice and I do indirectly benefit from her making good trades.
I am not including ENS domain names in this as I don’t buy them for trading. I am also not including polygon NFTs that I paid nothing for, especially all the scammy ones that were airdropped to my wallet to try and drain it!
What about crypto?
I am not including crypto trading here for two reasons:
1) I don’t actually tweet about crypto coins much. I don’t think my word has any weight in that space.
2) I don’t really know what I’m doing in crypto. My area of specialisation is clearly NFT projects, so that’s where I will focus.
If this changes, I will of course adjust.
Addresses to track
My addresses are swombat.eth and 0x61860BFFdAc4e904a4Bd0aB2dd8BDC29Fd86d38b . My wife’s addresses are iampow.eth and 0xd20fff02825ef40fd46c287f77f9c12253f9379e . I am including all four of these addresses in this and I hereby publicly commit that I am not trading on any other addresses.
If I start trading on other addresses I will update this section within one week.
At this point I have transferred most of the NFTs owned by both me and my wife to my vault for easier management.
Final disclaimer
If you want to try to copy my trades, nobody can stop you. It’s probably a bad idea, but who knows, it might work out. I strongly advise you to research projects yourself and not buy them just because I say some good words about them. Also please consider entry prices before buying a project. Even if you believe it’s going to 10 eth, it’s much more risky to buy a project at 1 eth than at 0.1. So if I bought in at 0.1, and say it’s going to 10, and you buy at 1, you are actually taking a substantially higher risk and this may not be worthwhile.
Portfolio breakdown
In the detailed descriptions, I have included a date of when my evaluation of this investment was written, so you can decide for yourself how out of date it might be. Some will be out of date because I’m human and can’t keep everything up to date all the time… 🤷
Some of my NFTs I hold purely for the utility I get from them:
Some of my NFTs I hold with the expectation of a positive return:
Some of my NFTs are probably ded:
Some of my NFTs are definitely ded:
Some of my NFTs are gifts, or art that I’ve collected:
And here are NFT projects that I’ve owned in the past but traded entirely out of:
Utility NFTs:
Llamaverse Animated
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I hold an animated Llama because I want access to the Llamaverse community and to NFTLlama. It's a community of traders and a good place to find out about what's going on in the NFT space from a trading perspective. I originally paid .75 Eth for it and have more than recouped the price from trading the Llamaverse project itself, but also simply from the value I got from this community.
ZenAcademy 333 Club
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I hold a 333 club membership because it gives me access to an excellent community of builders and creators, and to Roy (Zeneca) himself. I originally paid 3.33 Eth for this. This has been more than repaid in the form of opportunities, connections, and assistance from Roy.
Midnight Labs
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I hold a Midnight Labs membership because I was graciously invited to mint it by Giancarlo Chaux, the excellent creator behind the Giancarlo Buys Token Youtube Channel. It was a free mint. I am still working out how to best participate in this community, but in the meantime I am honoured to have been invited there.
Floored Ape
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
Floored Ape is a porfolio management tool that keeps things clean and neat and provides a simple overview that's not too busy visually. I tend to use it regularly. Please note I also minted a bunch of extra tokens as an investment, though it is underwater and looking a bit dead at the moment.
Asset Money
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
Asset Money is a porfolio management tool that does advanced calculations to help you evaluate the value of your portfolio. I was graciously gifted a free membership token to help provide feedback on the application. I haven't used it recently, I prefer flooredape as a quick overview that's not too visually busy.
Gallery
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
Gallery is a tool to display your portfolio and make it look good. I got a free token via Meta Angels I think. I haven't used it all that much, it's not been an important need for me.
Here is the gallery I created at the time, if you're curious.
Active investment NFTs:
Llamaverse
Owned:
Sold:
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
This has been one of my best investments.
I bought 2 gold passes (one on behalf of my wife). One was bought before there was an NFT available at all, by transferring 0.95 Eth to NFTLlama. The other one, bought on secondary at 1.5 Eth. I also held 6 silver passes (2 on behalf of my wife), bought at: 0.099, 0.1, 0.089, 0.249, 0.25.
I was actively involved in helping build out this project, though I've been less active of late, as my own work has taken the focus. As the project has grown, I took some profits.
I sold one Llama for 1.688 and one silver pass for 0.8 Weth to reduce my risk exposure. I then sold another llama for 4.85 (and and another silver boost for 1.85) to take profits. Then I sold another for 2.99 Eth, with a silver boost for 0.6.
Total sales from Llamaverse have been about 12.7 Eth (minus royalties).
I have also free-minted 5 Llamascapes, plus two rares, and sold the rares for another 1.01 Eth. As you may know from my writings, I'm not bullish on Metaverse stuff, especially land, but I'm holding the other 5 in case they do something interesting.
Crypto Coven & Coven Soul Vessels
Sold:
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I really loved this project. I was one of the earliest on the Discord, I loved the vibe. I got in the "first witches" community sale and minted three at 0.05 each. I also got my wife to mint 3.
I believe Crypto Coven is a very well executed NFT club, with a much more feminine, go with the flow vibe that suits its intended audience (witchy, spiritual people) exceedingly well (unlike the very aggressive vibe in most NFT project Discords). In the current bear market, it has suffered a lot, though.
I considered selling some of my initial ones when the project first pumped to 0.2 or so... and decided against it, because I really liked owning witches 126, 127 and 128! Instead, I've periodically bought one or two more when the price goes down to 0.1-ish. My price target for this project, where I will start selling witches, used to be about 1-2 eth... and then I changed my mind when it was pumping steadily for weeks.
Turns out I should have sold some at that point and taken some profits.
Oh well, at least, I flipped one of the witches I bought for about .1, for .29, to derisk, and sould a soul vessel for .55 Eth. My investment is basically risk-free now. I may take profits if the price goes back up.
On loan:
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I feel very bullish about Meta Angels, for reasons both tangible and intangible. Tangible: I have spent a long time talking to founders in general and I believe I know how to recognise when a founder is 🔥. Ally and Alex are 🔥. I'll happily back whatever their venture is in NFTs. But also, as I've been close to the project as it approached mint, I got more bullish because of the quality of execution I observed, and the willingness to engage the community to help (there were 60+ ppl on the QA team manually verifying everything), and I've also had my belief that Ally and the Meta Angels team would be able to attract attention for the project validated by the fact that, well, they did.
I also feel optimistic about the core mechanic of the project being something that will eventually be valuale - the concept is essentially translating the power of having a good, helpful network, into an NFT project designed to maximise that network's impact.
I helped the team at Meta Angels with some advice early on. They were gracious enough to reward me with a Diamond List slot which enabled me to mint 10 (at the same price as everyone else) during the pre-sale. I also got my wife on the gold list and she was able to mint 3. And since then I've bought, erm, quite a few.
I know that Ally and Alex have a big vision that they want to implement, a strong startup background with operational experience, connections, and strong ethics. To me, this project is a no-brainer.
Curious Addy’s Trading Club (CATC)
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
This project was originally a risk-free purchase because the contract enabled a refund mechanism that meant that buying around mint price was risk-free. I bought some around that price. Since then, I have bought many more.
Why? Because of the founders, Ben and Mai. I think they'll keep working on this until they make it a success. And they're smart and capable and enthusiastic. I like backing founders like this. I'm curious where they'll take this project.
Zenacademy Genesis
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I caught this mint just before it finished. I made a quick decision: it's an investment club, and I am bullish on those clubs. And I believe that Zeneca is one of the more reputable, credible, ethical influencers in the space. So I minted 3, at 0.03. I flipped one at 0.1 to derisk with intent to hold the other two for a number of months to see where this goes.
Since then I have seen Zeneca get renewed energy and focus, an do some hiring, to bring this project to its full value, so I've decided to stack up some more. I've since observed he's also an indefatigable beast who seems able to do more in one day than most people do in a week. At present, I have accumulated 30 Genesis passes.
Enigma Economy
Sold:
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
Enigma is a straightforward investment. The money is going to buy actual Ethereum mining equipment (servers and GPUs) and is being put to use for the purpose of building mining nodes and sharing the rewards. Now that Eth is switching to Proof of Stake, they are repurposing the equipment to mine other coins.
Unlike many scams (e.g. Ring and Thor, which claim to set up "nodes" for you but do nothing of the sort, there's actual physical equipment being bought and set up (receipts have been posted along with photos of the gear), and an actual incorporated business. Of course, it could all _still_ be some elaborate scam, so do your own research, but as far as I can tell this is a legitimate mining business raising money via NFTs.
I happily bought in (3 at 0.16, 0.172 and 0.135), and got my wife to as well (6 at 0.17, 0.174, 0.185, 0.19, 0.19, 0.2 and 0.209 🧹), and we've staked all of them and will likely continue to do so to collect the mining rewards. I see it as a lower-hassle, easier version of buying some gear and setting up a mining node under my desk. 1) it doesn't heat up my flat, and 2) it's less likely to melt down or set my flat on fire in the London summer.
I have also minted 3 v3s at 0.15 per, and got my wife to mint 3 as well (and she minted an Expert). We have sold and listed some to derisk.
The HUG
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
For me this was a no-brainer to invest. I have had a good long chat with Debbie, I can tell she's smart and driven and capable. They've already organised a community of volunteers to do lots of work curating projects. They're putting together an accelerator. They have Randi Zuckerberg as a cofounder. Will they 100% deliver? No one can know that, of course.
I got one free pass for offering to help with the accelerator side of things, and got on the mintlist thanks to this as well. Since then I've also swept many from the floor.
The Rebels by House of Kalinski
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I cold-reviewed this project, and found that it ticked a lot of boxes, but I didn't believe in the metaverse thesis. I subsequently spoke to the founder/CEO, who is also in the 333 club, and got a sense that she is aware of the possible problems with building items "for the metaverse" years before there is a metaverse (her target was also about 5y before it becomes popularised). We spoke about some other plans they might have, and I got a sense that the project has a chance. Given the incredibly low price point ($20-30) I felt like it was worth taking the risk and put in about $600, then swept another bunch a while later.
My time horizon for this investment is a few years. I might derisk or take profits along the way if the price allows it, but I think I'll keep most of them for a good while and see what they deliver. Probably would start taking profits as the price approaches 1 Eth.
At the same time, worth noting this is a risky investment - the price could also very much never go up, and just slide to zero. In that case, I'll have lost $1k or so. The risk/reward seems worth it for me.
The Bornless
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
So this is actually a P2E game. Yes, I know, I ranted about not investing in P2E games. Then literally a week later someone on Llamaverse gave me a tip to look into this one and... well, the game looks like it's actually quite fun, the tokenomics make sense to me, and the tokens are being released in waves of 666 tokens and... well, I decided it was worth minting. I got 5. I've listed one to derisk. It will sell when it sells. Until then I'm happy to hold and see what this team do with their cool looking survival horror game.
The Littles
Show rationale (2022/08/23)
I've had my eye on the Littles since back before it launched, but I missed the boat back then and was not super convinced about the commercial proposition. I still am not 100% convinced about the commercials, but it's become clear to me over time that Wil, the founder, is an exceptional and driven individual and so whilst I'm not 100% clear that "be the Mario of web3" is viable as a business strategy, I believe that he will probably figure out a way forward eventually and drive the price of the tokens up on that occasion.
Projects that are probably dead
Non Fungible People
Sold:
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
This was a presale whitelist opportunity from Llamaverse. Originally I was just going to mint and flip. But after derisking by selling one for 0.16, I looked more into the project and decided that because it is started by a legitimate company and I can see a potential business case for it, I am going to hold the second one (now it is entirely derisked), probably for a few months, to see where the project goes. This was directly contradicting my suggestion around avoiding the
Investrading trap but I think it was a conscious decision. In hindsight, I suspect it would have been better to sell. It has not gone where I thought it would.
Expansion Punks
Sold:
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I found out about this project from a well connected friend's tip. I looked into it and liked their thinking. The way they went about explaining how they designed their project here and here got my attention. The fact that the founding team is at least Level 2 doxxed, and maybe Level 3, was also a plus. So I decided to invest even though the core pitch for this project is one I've literally listed as the least plausible pitch for any project (aka: "we're going to be the next cryptopunks").
Mint was .06. I minted 5 and got my wife to mint 5. I derisked when the price hit .1. Do I wish I'd held longer? Heck yeah. Since then ExPunks have hit a .85 ATH and they look like they're still heading upwards. I wouldn't buy more right now, but I may try some trading during the next pump, if I can sell into the top of the pump and buy back more on the dip. We shall see. Either way, I'll hold at least one as a very long term, zero risk investment, in case they _do_ achieve their unlikely goal of reaching Cryptopunks status. Unlikely at this point.
PixelBeasts
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I bought one of those to check out the gated parts of the project, since it seemed like an interesting NFT club for builders and... never really got around to doing it. I'm still holding it. Maybe some day I'll actually get around to checking it out properly...
Mystic Sisterhood
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I minted 10 of these. My reasoning is that while they are a bit similar to Crypto Coven, and not quite as good imho, the project founders seem to genuinely want to create something different (a witchy space focused on sharing art skills and knowledge). I thought this may or may not work out, but I felt convinced enough by the founders to risk 0.5 eth. It looks like it hasn't worked out particularly well.
Floored Ape
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
Floored Ape is a tool that I've been using every day since I discovered it. I've had enough conversations with the founding team to know they're determined to keep building what will continue to become an ever better portfolio management tool. I like the aesthetics of FA over many other similar tools.
Since I've been willing to pay 0.1 for lifetime membership of moby.gg, which I use less frequently, I think it's not unreasonable that these lifetime membership tokens will eventually be worth that much or more. So at 0.02 per they seemed a bargain and I bought 10. They've stayed under that amount for quite a while now so I think it's not super likely they'll go up.
Funcles
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I sheeped into this one based on hearing someone I trusted saying the alpha community was strong. It may well be, but I've not verified this for myself. So far it's not done great. If the project does turn out to be better than I expected, I probably will sell when it pumps.
Not Your Bro & Not Your Demons
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I sheeped into this one based on a perception that it might do well. So far it's not done great. Not my proudest moment. It might rise again, if so I probably will look to sell. Got airdropped a Not Your Demons too.
Flipmaps
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I missed the 0.03 mint for Flipmaps ("looks nice, lemme have a look at it tomorrow - oh shit it's minted out") and, like an idiot, FOMO'ed into it at .1. It then naturally rolled back down, like the pointless deriv that it was. Not coincidentally, I wrote
this thread shortly afterwards. I'm holding this hoping there will be another pump for me to get out on, but not hugely hopeful.
Buttheads
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
Until recently this would have been in my "dead" category, but they recently came back to life, so go figure. This was another total degen move (in the middle of a bear market no less!). I found the art hilarious, and it was a free mint. I don't have high expectations of this, but who knows, right?
Lazy Lions Bungalows
Sold:
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
This was a free mint for holding lions, so not exactly an investment. Given my issues with the Lazy Lions project, I'm not really expecting this to go anywhere, but it might, because LL is good at generating hype and some of that _might_ spill over onto the Bungalows. If they reach a decent price I'll probably sell them.
The Glitches
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I've got mixed feelings about this project. I minted it and bought up because I sensed that it could do well. I still think it could have, but I think the founder wasn't quite in the right place to make it work.
That said, it clearly didn't work out. It might go up again, who knows. I mostly feel bad that I gave one of these (the last one) to my wife as a birthday present. If it goes back up I'll start selling to derisk, and may hold one or two just in case, but I doubt that'll happen.
Omnimorphs
Sold:
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I bought into this because it was a Llamaverse call (back in that post-bull period where the calls were lower quality). It's not a rug, but it's not a project I should ever have bought into. As far as I can tell there is no long term sustainable value here. I'd be happy to get out with a 50% haircut here. Maybe some of them will sell. It has occasionally had little pumps.
I've listed them for about half the price I paid for them - I don't expect much here. But somehow one of them has sold!
Street Melts Genesis
Sold:
Show rationale (2022/08/14)
I bought into this - wait no, I got _my wife_ to buy into this - because it was a Llamaverse call (back in that post-bull period where the calls were lower quality). It's not a rug, but it's not a project we should ever have bought into. Maybe it will go back up. It's not a rug, after all, just a not-so-great project. We'll see.
PS: For a brief time, the price did pump up to above .2... Then it went back down again. Missed trading opportunity, or maybe there was some pump and dumping going on and we ended up some kind of bag-holder.
Wiiides
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
This was a so-called "Zape" degen call. Zeneca occasionally degens into projects and after much cajoling, agreeed to share his degen moves in a channel on the 333 Discord. When they're cheap enough that I can sheep in for a few hundred bucks, I think it's worth the gamble. It is, to be clear, pure gambling. This one didn't work out so far.
9999 Luftballons
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
This was a so-called "Zape" degen call. Zeneca occasionally degens into projects and after much cajoling, agreeed to share his degen moves in a channel on the 333 Discord. When they're cheap enough that I can sheep in for a few hundred bucks, I think it's worth the gamble. It is, to be clear, pure gambling. This one didn't work out so far.
Definitely dead projects
These are projects I’m not expecting to be able to get out of ever, though if it happens, great. If you disagree with my assessment of one of these projects and want to buy me out… please get in touch 😂
Total Degenz
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
What it says on the tin. Caught this while the first 1k were free mint. The total cost to me for minting this was about $72. I felt it was a risk worth taking. The free 1k minted out in a minute or two. They've since been delisted from OpenSea so most likely ded.
Tiny Kingdom
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
Degen'ed during a pump that turned out to be totally manipulated. Don't expect to be able to ever sell this, but oh well, another lesson I guess. At least it was relatively cheap and I only bought one...
0xVampires & 0xHunters
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
I didn't really think things through before buying into this project. And I bought into a pump, too. So extra helping of stupid there. Then I bought one more so that I could get an extra "free" 0xHunter.
Then the project turned out to be a rug. RIP.
Malevich Punks
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
Degen move. At least it was a free mint and they look sorta nice?
Not A Rug
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
Oh my. This one wins the "missed trading opportunity" crown. It was a free mint, obvious degen move, but then I traded like an idiot. It pumped after mint, I sold one for .08... then someone on a Discord said you needed 5 for the "utility" and I did not recognise that "utility" as "ponzi shite"... so I bought back in at .065.
Now they're utterly worthless, which was kind of predictable. The project was _not_ helped by the fact that it developed a weird subculture where everyone would speak in all caps and add "not" randomly throughout their sentences, so that whatever you said was meant to be the opposite of the literal meaning of what you said. Folks - communication is hard enough in regular english.
I mostly feel bad about this one because I could have made a nice .4 or so from selling during that one and only pump and... did not.
Alien UFO and Alien Girl
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
I'm grouping those together as they were both free mints from holding six Alien Boys. Alien Boys came back to life somewhat and I got most of my money back out. These two, though, I have no expectations.
Royal Ceramic Club
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
Oh boy. Followed a lot of excitement on the Llamaverse discord (in the early days, when the August bull run was still wafting through the air making everyone way way way overly optimistic). Minted 3 at .08 each. Utterly worthless. Basically a rug - the founders never did anything with it. And I was so excited that I finally got a rare... 😆
Lockdown Lemmings
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
Basically aped into this because I saw
0x_fxnction tweet about it and so I degen-aped into it. Free mint, 5x. Never went anywhere, and probably won't. Not my worse move by far, just a bit pointless.
Waltz / Sunflower
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
This is me being dumb. I saw those talked about on the Llamaverse Discord. I said, "wtf, they just look like cheap windows screensavers". People replied "no man, they're really beautiful! They're definitely going up." Did I engage my critical mind?
No, I bought 3. At least they only cost .02!
Emoshuns
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
It was my first free mint. I mostly did it because I wanted to test the transfer function with an NFT that wasn't super expensive. It never went anywhere, which is a little sad, but wasn't a huge expense, other than the gas.
Nah Fungible Bones
Sold:
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
I bought into this because it was a Llamaverse call (back in that post-bull period where the calls were lower quality). It's not a rug afaict, but it's not a project I should ever have bought into. Its only appeal was a perceived chance of going up because Halloween was approaching. It turns out Halloween did absolutely nothing for Halloween themed NFTs. These looked nice, but looking nice is not enough to make a successful investment.
In another unlikely turn of events, I've somehow miraculously sold 1 of them for most of what I paid for it, I think because of the crypto skulls interest recently. Four remain.
Another one where I can't believe I spent nearly a thousand bucks apiece on those. 🙄
Gift & Art NFTs
Fusion Apes
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
I was gifted one of these pieces of art by one of the Fusion Apes founders as a thank you for setting up the market health index charts to auto-post on their Discord. I do not consider it to be a tradeable item, but I list it here for completeness. I have also bought another purely because I like it and want to own it (so, like, art collection? 🙀).
Primarily Colors
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
A gift from
Satvik Sethi. You can see the exchange where I requested it
here. Sometimes all you have to do is ask nicely?
OctoHedz VX
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
I didn't ask for it (it's offered for free), but I was also gifted an Octohedz by the project after I set up the market health index on their Discord. Again this is not something I'm intending to trade.
Koollamas
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
I was gifted my profile picture from Koollamas, and was also given a 1/1. I also minted one for free. I have no intention of selling either. They're pretty cool. Or Kool?
Completed Trades
These are projects that I’ve traded and since exited. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not worth holding, it just means I’ve not chosen to buy back in, at least not yet.
Robotos
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
This was a Llamaverse call, and the one that has worked out the best for me so far. Bought 3 at 0.23, 0.23 and 0.244, and sold them at 0.544, 1.26 and 1.26. Not counting royalties, that's still a hefty profit. I've reviewed this project
here if you want to know more about it.
Holy Cows
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
I should never have bought this. It was a degen move. But then at some point I saw it pump and took the profits/exit immediately. I later found out that notorious pump and dump'er flur had pumped it. Naturally, the pump was unsustainable and it collapsed back down and is now, as I expected, worth very little.
Entry at 0.07, 0.08 and 0.12, exit at 0.172 for all three.
They do look cute tho.
Lazy Lions
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
Aaah, the lions. It was my first NFT, and got me to finally slip into the rabbit hole of web3. I'll forever be thankful to this project.
So why did I sell? Mostly because although the Lions are really good at generating noise, the noise is always about themselves. In several months there I still could not answer why it made sense to be part of that community, what benefit _I_ would get from it, beyond the ponzi benefit that "when the lions go to the moon", I can sell for a profit to another punter. That combined with 50 different niggles over those months, from atrocious moderation practices to poor engagement of the community (treating them as twitter cows to milk for tweets rather than as co-builders of the project), lack of transparency over finances, undoxxed team, a cleverly disguised obsession with floor prices (the whole "diamond paws" thing which I've highlighted as a roadmap antipattern), and a few botched deliveries like Bungalows (which never acknowledged how bad it was that 2,500 ppl minted them for the huge price of 0.3 eth and basically lost all that)... Then there was the fact that this was the most expensive, and thereby most risky, project that I had in my portfolio.
Eventually, I had enough, and I sold out and advised my wife to sell out. She made a decent profit and I made a small loss. Of course the lions immediately pumped right after I sold but that's just sod's law. Don't look back.
I'm happy I don't have this huge risk on my NFT balance sheet any longer.
Entry points: For me, 0.59, 0.6 and 0.89... which I almost sold at the 3.1 top (I called it, but my wife talked me out of it "because it will go higher!" 🤦). I then doubled down on this mistake by buying another one at 2.2 "to flip", after doing a bit of switcheroo to get a rainbow mane lion (sold one I didn't like for 3.1 and bought the one I wanted for 2.99). On the whole, my exit price then was: 1.045, 1.14, 1.15, 1.04, which works out as a 0.095 increase - but that got more than eaten up by royalties.
My wife only made the first trading mistake, not the second one, so she got off much better despite a higher entry: 0.85, 0.78 and 0.8 entry point. 1.19, 1.17 and 1.046 exits, for a nearly 1 eth profit (of course diminished by royalties and OpenSea fees and gas).
PxQuest
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
Got Whitelist for this project via Llamaverse. I looked at it and it seems interesting but I didn't feel drawn to staying invested in it long term. I minted for 0.125 and flipped for 0.6 (though with 10% royalties) within half an hour. Best of luck to the project, but it doesn't feel like the right fit for me!
The Alien Boy
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
I bought into this because it was a Llamaverse call (back in that post-bull period where the calls were lower quality). It's not a rug, but it's not a project I should ever have bought into. I think there might be some long term sustainable value here, based on the roadmap and how the project sees itself, however it's not value that I believe in so I should not have gone in.
In an unlikely turn of events, I somehow miraculously sold all of them for most of what I paid for them, and a couple at a decent discount.
Can't believe I spent a thousand bucks on some of those. 🙄
Pixelmon
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
Yes, the infamous Pixelmon that raised $70m+ with undoxxed founders, no vesting, no strings attached.
I got the whitelist from Llamaverse. Much like PxQuest, it's a project that I believe is honest (despite the outrageous valuations), and this presented me with a simple trading opportunity. Mint was 0.6 Eth. Floor was slightly above 1. So I flipped for 0.44 in profit (minus royalties). For 7 minutes of work that was not bad.
Best of luck to the project and its enormous expectations!
Update: Well, it turned out not to be all that honest, but I didn't know it at the time 🤷
SkvllPvnks
Show rationale (2022/08/15)
I bought into this because it was a Llamaverse call (back in that post-bull period where the calls were lower quality). It's not a rug, but it's not a project I should ever have bought into. If there is long term sustainable value here, it's not the kind that I can feel conviction in.
I've somehow miraculously managed to sell all of them for most of what I paid for them.