How to Buy Axie Infinity (AXS) - Step-by-Step Guide
Axie Infinity is a game where gamers can breed, buy, sell, and battle digital monsters against one another in order to compete for in-game currency. Unlike most cryptocurrencies, AXS (Axie Infinity Shards) are gaming tokens that can be earned when playing Axie Infinity online.
This page will guide you on how to buy AXS tokens and show you where you can invest in the booming virtual economy of Axie Infinity.
How to Buy Axie Infinity
You can purchase Axie Infinity online using a cryptocurrency exchange. This is the easiest way to buy and sell cryptocurrencies—all you need is a computer or mobile device. See below for our top picks of platforms that offer Axie Infinity and simple steps to buy Axie Infinity.
1. Choose a broker or exchange
To get things rolling, you’ll want to sign up with one of the reputable brokers or cryptocurrency exchanges recommended for you below. Selecting from this list will not only streamline your onboarding experience into the world of cryptocurrency but also protect you from potentially high transaction fees and other hidden costs.
2. Create and fund your account
For you to create your account with a trusted broker or exchange, you will have to provide some personal details like your name and date of birth. Some platforms may also ask you for ID documentation and proof of address before you can make your first deposit that can be made using a range of payment methods.
3. Buy AXS
Once you have completed the necessary KYC requirements on your preferred broker or exchange, you’re ready to purchase your first Axie tokens with the money deposited in your account. You can do this by selecting a trading pair that best matches the local currency held in your account. For instance, if you are a UK-based user, you will look for the AXS/GBP trading pair in the search bar to make your first purchase.
Where to Buy Axie Infinity (AXS)?
Due to its immense popularity, AXS is available on most centralised exchanges. The platforms listed below are the ones we recommend. Aside from having AXS available to buy, some of the platforms allow you to stake your AXS to earn a yield.
What Is Axie Infinity?
Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game that is similar to Pokémon. Players breed, trade, and battle virtual monsters called Axies against each other with the aim of amassing cryptocurrency rewards.
Axies are tokenised as NFTs: one-of-a-kind special tokens that give digital ownership over their favourite monsters. So, unlike Pokémon, gamers won’t be capturing or breeding any of the same kind of monsters as their opponents. With each Axie having its own individual body parts with its own stats, players will find masses of possible genetic combinations when breeding the virtual pets. The Axie infinity game is built on the Ethereum blockchain and is one of the most popular virtual reality, or “metaverse”, games in the space.
AXS is accepted as currency within the in-game NFT marketplace where gamers can not only buy Axie monsters but also plots of virtual land and other gameplay items like tribal shields. This collection makes Axie Infinity home to one of the most lucrative marketplaces for NFT digital collectables in the crypto industry. You can find more information about the Axie Infinity ecosystem and the Axie Infinity Team within the WhitePaper.
Ways to Invest in Axie Infinity
There are many investment strategies that may be leveraged when purchasing Axie Infinity tokens. As an investor, you may wish to hold on to your investment for the long-term or short-term depending on the financial targets you set yourself and how you would like to position your portfolio.
Those looking to get further involved can pick up some AXS tokens to invest while they play Axie Infinity earning while they battle, trade and breed axies. Head on over to the Axie Inifity site to get hold of your first three Axies and start playing the game.
Buy and hold Axie Infinity
Buying and holding AXS tokens is one of the most common strategies among new and experienced investors alike. There is even a name for this practice within the expanding crypto community: long-term investors are colloquially referred to as those that “HODL” (Hold on For Dear Life).
At the same time, buying and holding Axie tokens also sees investors avail the option of staking their AXS by lending, or “locking”, away their tokens for a specific period of time in order to claim incentivising rewards.
Best Axie Infinity Wallets
As an investor, you have multiple choices when it comes to storing your AXS tokens. Most brokers and exchanges offer custodian services, in the form of internal wallets, through which your cryptocurrency is automatically stored after being purchased.
That said, some investors will choose to take self-custody of their AXS and employ software wallets or proven hardware wallets like Trezor, BitBox, and Ledger where they can put their AXS into cold storage, the practice of manually storing your crypto on a hard drive.
In order to stake Axie, investors must transfer AXS from their internal wallets on an exchange to Axie Infinity’s native software wallet, Ronin.
Trade Axie Infinity
Rather than holding AXS for the long run, some investors may also look to trade the digital asset by speculating on the volatility of its price. In doing so, traders can make use of derivatives such as options, futures, and contracts for difference (CFDs) to produce profits.
Nevertheless, even the most experienced traders are susceptible to miscalculating the swinging volatility that often characterises the cryptocurrency market.
Because traders will often only hold AXS for short periods of time, it is often more convenient for them to store their Axie Infinity tokens on web wallets provided by exchange platforms rather than periodically transferring crypto between exchanges and private software or hardware wallets that may incur additional costs.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking to trade the fierce creatures of the Axie Infinity ever-expanding universe then you’ll need to download and start playing the Axie Infinity game.
Payment methods you can use to buy Axie Infinity (AXS)
As you’ve seen, GMT can be bought on a number of different cryptocurrency exchanges but there are also a number of different ways to fund your account.
- PayPal: PayPal is a convenient way to send and receive money and buy things online. To buy crypto, ensure your bank is linked to your PayPal account. You should then be able to buy crypto using it. But remember, some banks may block your transactions, so if you have any problems, get in touch with them or open a crypto-friendly bank account.
- Bank transfer: Deposits can be made in any major currency by bank transfer, which is available at the majority of exchanges. This could several days to complete and you should let your bank know you are making a transfer to a crypto exchange and get them to whitelist the exchange, otherwise your payment might get rejected.
- Debit card or Credit Card: This is the quickest and most popular method of payment for buying crypto. Always investigate the fees before using your credit card, though, as the these can get pretty steep.
- Crypto: If you have some Bitcoin or Ethereum ready to use, you can swap or convert it to AXS. This is relatively straightforward. Just find the conversion or swapping tool on the exchange and turn as much of your holdings as you want into AXS.
- Peer to Peer: On many exchanges, you can also buy directly from another person who has the tokens you want and is ready to sell them. This is slightly more complicated, but once you get used to it, it’s often the best way of securing a good rate.
Buying vs Trading Axie Infinity (AXS)
When you buy Axie Infinity is ultimately down to you and will depend on your trading or investment goals. If you want to be a part of the Axie Infinity community and need tokens to stake and have governance rights on the platform, timing a buy to make a quick profit might not be your first consideration. But if you want to buy Axie Infinity on an exchange in the belief that the price will appreciate, timing is critical.
Pinpointing the highs and lows of cryptocurrency cycles is notoriously difficult. Ideally, you want to buy your AXS when the market has retraced, or fallen a bit. This increases your chances of getting the coins at a discount before the price hopefully starts heading up again.
If this sounds too complicated, one of the most popular ways of buying Axie Infinity is with what’s called ‘dollar cost averaging’. What this means is buying coins at regular intervals regardless of the price. Practised by seasoned investors, this is the best way to reduce the impact of volatility on your holdings.
What Makes Axie Infinity (AXS) a good investment?
Built on the Ethereum blockchain, Axie Infinity is an exciting and addictive game that also gives players the opportunity to make money. By buying, earning and staking AXS, players can earn further AXS and also have a say—known as governance rights—in the future development of the game.
To play the game, players must have a cryptocurrency wallet where they can store and stake their tokens and any NFTs they buy or earn within the game. Every transaction is immutably stored on Ethereum’s public ledger meaning there can be no confusion as to who owns what in the Axie Infinity metaverse.
What other features does Axie Infinity have?
Every monster – or ‘Axie’ – in the game is an NFT that can be bought, sold, or even loaned to other players. Along with a wallet, you’ll have to deposit Ethereum into your account and buy three monsters to get started.
Once you’ve bought your monsters, you can send them into battle as a group or individually, create new monsters, or simply raise the ones you have. The more you play and advance through the game, the more AXS you can earn.
It’s worth noting that there is also another cryptocurrency linked to the game called Smooth Love Potion. This is earned through playing and used to breed digital pets which can be sold on the Axie Infinity marketplace.
Like AXS, SLP is openly traded on cryptocurrency exchanges but has a much lower price due to different tokenomics; while there is a finite amount of AXS available, SLP is uncapped in its supply and is therefore much more inflationary. If you decide to buy SLP on an exchange, this is something you should be aware of as, in the longer term, inflation puts downward pressure on price.
Will Axie Infinity (AXS) Make Me Money?
Many gamers who started playing Axie Infinity early have benefitted from playing Axie Infinity. As with many things in crypto, the best profits are made by getting in before the crowds start to see what is happening.
To play Axie Infinity successfully, new entrants need to make an investment in the NFTs they will use to play the game. This upfront cost may put off those who aren’t committed to playing the game full-time. While it is still possible to earn money in AXS, the returns are lower than they were in the beginning.
Many people choose to speculate on the price of AXS, buying the token low and selling it high. While this can be profitable, a good knowledge of the markets and trading using charts and analytics tools is required. Learning these skills takes time, but once mastered can lead to making money. How much money is dependent on your knowledge, skill level, whether you plan to use leverage and how much initial capital you have to invest.
Where to store AXS
If you’ve bought a stash of AXS and don’t plan on selling it anytime soon, you could leave it on the exchange. This is probably only worth doing if you plan on staking your tokens to earn a yield. If not, you’re better off—and safer—storing your coins in a non-custodial wallet, such as Metamask, or a hardware wallet. A crypto wallet is like a banking app that protects your money behind a password.
Axie Infinity Pros and Cons
Pros
- AXS is part of a thriving gaming community that keeps getting more popular
- It offers a unique way to earn cryptocurrency
- The more people that play the game, the more demand there is for the coin
- Owning AXS coins gives you the opportunity to shape the game’s direction
Cons
- The coin is still relatively new and we don’t know if the hype will last
- Gaming is competitive and Axie’s success could drive more challengers into the space
- As more people start to play Axie Infinity, the returns from playing the game are diminishing for new entrants
- Trading AXS on exchanges carries risks and you could lose money
Should I Buy Axie Infinity Now?
As an incoming investor, you must decide on whether to invest in AXS depending on your financial position and the intended direction of your portfolio, in addition to doing your own research.
Axie Infinity is one of the most popular blockchain games on the market, and as such is positioned to benefit from the mainstreaming of the metaverse. If Axie were to become as popular as games like Pokémon Go or Angry Birds, this would likely create demand for the AXS token, as it is instrumental in the game’s ecosystem.
However, while Axie Infinity does hold a considerable first-mover advantage when it comes to virtual gaming within the metaverse, the game and its NFT ecosystem are still subject to traditional supply and demand forces.
There is always the chance that Axie Infinity users may shift their attention to dark horse metaverse games in the future. But with the name Axie Infinity has already carved for itself in the space, its industry-leading NFT marketplace, and rising retail investment in AXS, the game is quickly becoming the cornerstone of the metaverse.
Axie Infinity (AXS) quick round up
Axie Infinity creates a whole new gaming experience based on a ‘play to earn’ model. Although it comes with a high upfront cost, it offers players the chance to earn money depending on how good they are and how much they play the game. It also has its own NFT marketplace where creators can design their own characters and sell them to other players for real money.
The immediate prospects look good, and Axie’s popularity is demonstrated by how much some of those characters have sold for. They regularly sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, while recent additions to the game include the ability to buy and sell land as NFTs as well. On this note, in February 2021 a piece of (virtual) land in the Axie Infinity metaverse sold for a staggering $1.5m.