For many, Opensea has become the primary marketplace for NFTs on the Ethereum network. It hosts the largest amount of listings and facilitates more transactions than any other marketplace. 

However, with so much activity present on the platform, the website does suffer from network congestion and can frequently become slow frequently. This can be a serious concern for many traders because NFT sales are so time sensitive. 

To avoid these delays, many traders are starting to utilize other marketplaces which are more responsive to capitalize on sudden momentum shifts created by popular NFTs. 

Gem

Gem has quickly become a favorite for NFT traders because of its intricate listings which offer a variety of helpful features for traders. 

1. Live Listings

A key feature that stands out on Gem is its ability to present listings that are live. While looking at a collection, users will notice that the tokens for sale are constantly updated so that they are not looking at tokens which have recently been purchased. 

This feature allows users to take advantage of fast moving NFTs to accurately buy tokens which are for sale at the lowest price possible. 

Further, Gem will also indicate which listings have multiple transactions currently being processed so that users are not wasting gas on tokens which are already in the process of being bought. 

2. Batch Buying

Another feature on Gem is the ability to buy multiple tokens at once. Unlike Opensea, which enables sellers to bundle their tokens, Gem’s batch buying actually gives the buyer the ability to buy multiple tokens from different sellers in a single transaction. 

While this doesn’t mitigate gas fees, it does allow traders to select tokens in bulk which are not being actively bought by other users. In conjunction with the live listingslistenings feature, this added level of trading depth on Gem makes it an ideal marketplace for users looking to sweep tokens at specific prices.

3. Marketplace Indicator

Gem also offers buyers additional information about tokens by showing users where the tokens were originally listed. Gem will provide a marker with the logo of other marketplaces on the top-left corner of a token to indicate that it has been listed on another platform such as Opensea and X2Y2. 

X2Y2

X2Y2 originally had a plan in place which rewarded trades for listing tokens on their platform. The idea was that by listing more tokens, users could earn rewards directly from the marketplace as a way to encourage the exchange of NFTs. 

However, the team at X2Y2 realized that this system was not regarding users with the actual sale of NFTs, only the listings. 

So, in order to solve this problem, the team recently made changes to their platform which now rewards users with the $X2Y2 token every time a sale occurs. Depending on one’s ability to identify hot NFTs and sell them, this reward system can generate an additional streamavenue of revenue for traders looking to maximize the most out of their trades. 

Rarible

Rarible is a marketplace that has a lot of similarities on the surface as Opensea, however they take a closer step towards decentralization with their $RARI token and the subsequent DAO involved. 

Holders of the $RARI token are immediate members of the Rarible DAO and are thus given the ability to vote on the governance of the $RARI token. 

In turn, the more active a user is on the Rarible platform, the more voting power they will have on the Rarible marketplace. 

One such voting decision by the DAO was to use the $RARI tokens to promote new web3 projects on the Rarible protocol. 

For active traders, the ability to vote on the direction of a marketplace makes Rarible one of the best platforms at recognizing the importance of decentralization. 

FTX

FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, offers its own marketplace for NFTs with some of the most popular collections such as Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Doodles, and Karafuru on their platform. They Also offer Solana projects as well. 

FTX is a major web3 company, and with one of the best crypto exchanges on the web, makes them a reputable place for NFT traders to make exchanges seamlessly. 

Users can buy crypto and use it to purchase NFTs all in one place, cutting out the hassle and stress for many (especially beginners) of transferring their crypto to various wallets on multiple networks. 

Magic Eden

Magic Eden offers one of the best platforms for Solana NFTs and is the premiere marketplace for the network. For anyone looking to dive deeper into Solana, this is the best place to do so. 

Magic Eden’s Unique Features:

• Upcoming NFTs

• Drop Calendar

• Launchpad

• Eden Games

• Resources for creators

Since Opensea included the Solana network to its marketplace, sales of NFTs on the Solana network have only gotten more active. The exposure from Opensea allowed a lot of projects to gain more recognition than usual. However, Magic Eden is still the primary place to exchange Solana NFTs.