Non-fungible tokens are extremely popular due to the lack of a property called fungibility. When you mint an NFT you not only receive an artwork from a limited collection, but you also receive a token that no one else inside the collection has. Not only are you the proud owner of a 10,000 NFT collection, but you’re also the only owner of your NFT – no one else has it!
Non-fungibility means that no token is the same. Each individual token inside an art collection has its own properties, values, and design. Even if you know nothing about NFTs, you can come to the logical conclusion that some NFTs are worth more than others – even when they’re part of the same collection.
Minting an NFT is such a thrill because you have the chance to obtain a rare token with limited properties that not many tokens inside the collection have. That’s why it’s important to determine the rarity of your NFTs. Today’s article shows you how to calculate NFT rarity by using some of the top 7 best NFT rarity tools in the market.
NFTs have gained massive traction in 2020 after some art collections have been sold for millions of dollars. Mainstream culture portrays NFTs as pictures on the blockchain, virtual JPEGs of monkeys, funny internet money, and most popularly: scams. But what are NFTs?
An NFT is a special type of cryptocurrency that represents a unique asset on the blockchain. The main trait of an NFT is non-fungibility. This trait indicates that the token is not fungible like normal cryptocurrency, and that it cannot be exchanged against other tokens because they do not have the same value.
Compare crypto and NFTs to cash and real estate. You can exchange a bitcoin for a bitcoin much like you can exchange a dollar for a dollar. But can you trade a house for a house? Well it’s not that easy. Your house might have an extra bedroom or an olympic swimming pool, making it worth more. Unlike money, real estate is not a fungible asset.
NFT’s aren’t fungible either. A DeGods NFT does not have the same traits or value as a Bored Ape NFT. And neither do the individual tokens within each collection have the same traits or value. One Bored Ape can cost 80 ETH, while another can cost 100 ETH due to having more rare properties.
Forget all you know about crypto when you think of NFTs. NFTs are not interchangeable – a trait which is commonly found in currencies, which most crypto is. And it’s all because creating an NFT means tokenizing something, converting a physical or digital asset into a token that you can easily trade and own on the blockchain.
Your apartment can be an NFT. You can tokenize your house keys and access your IoT home by confirming ownership over your virtual NFT keys. A song can be an NFT. Your medical records can be NFTs. In fact, you can make everything into an NFT. But in these early stages, most NFTs in crypto are virtual artwork.
The point of art, and most NFTs, is to create something special. If you’re an artist who loves to draw nature, you have probably never thought about drawing the same tree a hundred times. Today you’ll maybe draw an oak, tomorrow a cottonwood tree, etc. Your art is unique, and never the same.
You can apply the same logic to NFTs. There is no reason to create something that’s non-fungible when each token inside a collection is the same. NFTs must be different in order to adhere to their fundamental logic. For that to happen, artists have introduced properties.
The image below shows the properties (also called traits) of Bored Ape #3939 from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection on Ethereum. This NFT, like all others inside the collection, has six properties:
No BAYC inside the collection ever has the same six properties – there’s just one. And BAYC #3939 seems to have some very common traits. Its background is yellow, and OpenSea states that 13% of NFTs inside the collection have this trait. Given that BAYC is a 10,000 NFT collection, that means that 1300 other Bored Apes have the same yellow background.
The existence of properties introduces the existence of rarity. Some properties are more rare than others. And due to laws of supply and demand, this also means that some NFTs are worth more than others. Although this particular NFT may not be particularly rare, Bored Ape #4873 certainly is.
This BAYC has 7 traits in total, making it rare right from the get go. Its ‘Solid Gold’ fur is only found in 0.46% NFTs inside the collection. And there are four other traits that range up to 3% rarity. Since BAYC #4873 is more rare, that implies that it is also worth more. And if you check the link I’ve placed, you’ll discover that the owner listed the NFT for 3500 ETH – despite the floor starting from 80 ETH.
If the NFT you minted has rare traits, you obviously won’t sell it at the same price as a common NFT. That’s why you need to calculate NFT rarity and find out the fair market value of your token in contrast to the rest of the collection.
There are various ways to calculate NFT rarity, and there isn’t any method that’s considered to be the industry’s golden standard. One of the most popular methods to calculating NFT rarity includes:
The next few sections cover each method individually so that you better understand how calculating NFT rarity works. If you’re not overly interested in the hows and whys, you can skip directly to the Top 7 NFT Rarity Tools section and find the best crypto platforms for calculating NFT rarity.
The simplest method of calculating NFT rarity is the average trait rarity method. The method works by adding the percentages of each trait and dividing the total with the number of traits inside the collection. Let’s try this on the last Bored Ape you’ve encountered.
((13+1+5+2+0.46+3+1)/7)=3.63%
The NFT is fairly rare. However, the problem with this method is that it’s not fairly accurate. It does not represent the rarity of its rarest traits that well. The method only considers the general rarity of that NFT, and not of the token’s rarest trait. That’s why average trait rarity calculation is not used that commonly.
Trait rarity ranking is a method that ranks an NFT based on its rarest trait. If a token has 6 common traits and one legendary trait, the method considers the NFT a legendary NFT. Subsequently, the method ranks the NFT against others based on its rarest trait.
The problem with this method is that it only takes the rarest trait into account. An NFT with one legendary trait, two uncommon traits, and three common traits, is seen the same as another NFT with a legendary trait and all the others common. Considering only one trait is highly inefficient and does not do a good job at fairly estimating the token’s real market value.
Statistical rarity creates a rarity score by multiplying the statistical rarity of each trait that an NFT possesses. This method works similarly to the average trait rarity method. The output of this method also places too much emphasis on an NFT’s total rarity.
Most NFT rarity calculators use a special method that accounts for both the rarity of individual traits, as well as the overall rarity of an NFT. For example, rarity.tools uses the following formula to determine the rarity score of a single NFT:
[Rarity Score for a Trait Value] = 1 / ([Number of Items with that Trait Value] / [Total Number of Items in the Collection])
The numbers are ultimately summed up and you receive the overall rarity score of your NFT. The higher the score is, the rarer your NFT.
The following section contains a list of the top 7 NFT rarity tools in 2023. Keep in mind that I haven’t ranked the list in any particular order. I recommend checking out every rarity tool before making a final choice. In fact, sometimes it’s better to combine multiple NFT rarity calculators.
Rarity.tools is one of the oldest NFT rarity tools in the crypto space. The platform launched in April 2021 and helped many of our pioneer investors figure out the rarity of their valuable NFTs. The platform only worked for a few collections at the time. But today, Rarity.tools provides you insight into almost every collection’s rarity.
The platform is great because it shows rarity scores for both individual traits and the overall NFT rarity as well. You can sort any collection by trait and apply whichever filters you want. Keep in mind that the tool only shows rarity scores for NFT collections based on Ethereum.
MoonRank is the creme-de-la-creme NFT rarity tool for the Solana ecosystem. MoonRank is specially designed to calculate the rarity score of NFTs on Solana by using the statistical rarity methodology. Solana investors consider MoonRank to be the primary spot for calculating NFT rarity.
MoonRank is exclusively an NFT rarity tool. You can find any NFT collection from Solana on MoonRank. The tool lets you filter properties when searching for NFTs, as well as order NFTs based on how rare or common they are. What makes MoonRank so great is that you can input the address of your wallet and find out the rarity score of your NFTs without having to look up each token individually.
Rarity Sniper is another popular NFT rarity tool. The catch with this platform is that you can find rarity scores for NFTs on Ethereum, Solana, BNB, and more. Rarity Sniper is the perfect tool for those who own NFTs on multiple chains and want a place where they can track rarity for all of their tokens.
The tool’s interface is rather easy to understand. You can easily navigate around the website without any issues – even if you’re a beginner. You can also find the marketplace for each collection upon clicking on an NFT.
SolSniper is another great product for calculating NFT rarity scores for Solana collections. The tool is more complex than other tools as it offers numerous features. The most exciting feature SolSniper offers is the ability to view charts for collections in dollar value. This means that you can view the historical price of each collection without having to look up the price of SOL at the time.
The tool also features rarity filters, floor prices, redirects you to listings on Magic Eden, and more. However, the tool is better suited for finding NFTs from a collection with specific traits. The tool does not calculate rarity scores in any way.
RaritySniffer is another popular NFT rarity tool for Ethereum collections that lets you view rarity scores for some of the most popular NFTs. The tool has a similar layout to OpenSea, making it simple to navigate. You can also directly access each NFT and its relevant listing on OpenSea.
RaritySniffer is popular because it releases NFT rarity scores almost instantaneously after a new collection launches. You can find some of the newest NFT collections from Ethereum on RaritySniffer minutes after they’re minted out.
Icy.tools is a popular NFT rarity calculator tool for collections found on Ethereum. Compared to its peers, Icy.tools does a great job at expanding from its rarity tool status by offering far more analysis tools for NFTs. You can find data on a collection’s market cap, volume, price history, and much more. The only limitation is that some of the premium features require a subscription.
The tool also links to marketplaces on which you can find certain collections. Icy.tools typically refers to OpenSea listings, LooksRare listings, Genies listings, etc.
Last but not least there is DappRadar. The platform has a history of providing a rich database to crypto investors from the DeFi sector. But what you might not know is that DappRadar also provides all the information you need for Ethereum-based NFTs and their rarity score!
DappRadar features a native NFT value estimator that covers a limited number of collections. The tool lets you search for certain NFTs and calculate both their ETH and dollar values. The tool is great for quickly estimating the price of your NFT so that you can list it at a fair market price.
NFT rarity is highly important because it helps you sell your rarer NFTs at a fairer market price. You wouldn’t want to sell an NFT that costs $10,000 for $1,000 simply because that’s where the collection’s price floor is at. That’s why you need to know how to calculate NFT rarity scores. Or better yet, simply use the top 7 NFT rarity tools from this list.
If you want to learn more about NFTs, I suggest reading the following articles:
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