How to buy and sell Bitcoin Runes? A comprehensive guide

Why buy Bitcoin Runes?

The processes of etching and minting may seem too complicated or stressful for newbies and some oldies. So, they may only be interested in buying and selling Runes. 

Buying Runes is pretty easy. You can easily do this by trading Rune on a secondary marketplace. Interestingly, there are several available options to choose from. 

One popular choice is the NFT marketplace  Magic Eden, which recently launched its Rune marketplace. However, a preferred platform for BRC-20 tokens is Unisat, and another alternative is the OKX Exchange.

Now, let’s get into the details.

Buying Bitcoin Runes

Once you’ve set up your Rune compatible wallet, the next thing to do is to fund it with some $BTC. This is very important because you need $BTC to buy Runes and to pay for transaction fees. For our example on buying Runes, we are using the Magic Eden marketplace. Follow the steps below.

Option 1: Buying Bitcoin Runes on Magic Eden

Step 1 – Visit MagicEden’s website

Visit the website  and once the page opens connect your wallet.

Step 2 – Go to the Runes Marketplace.

Click on the “Runes” button from the navigation bar.

Step 3 – Browse through the Available Runes.

Once the Runes marketplace page opens, you’ll see a list of available Runes that you can choose from.

Step 4 – Choose a Rune to buy.

From the list of Runes, choose the Rune that you would like to own by clicking on it. From the image below, I selected the first Rune on the list.

Step 5 – Buy Your Runes.

Once you select your desired Rune, you will be taken to the buy page. Here you’ll see a list of your desired Rune available in packs for sale. 

It’s important to note that you can’t buy a single Rune token out of a pack  (just the way you can buy a single memecoin), so when you decide to buy, you’re agreeing to buy the quantity of runes listed in the pack.

From the image below, I selected the first pack which has a quantity of  1,779,612 and is valued at $3,909.57 USD. This means I will have to spend the stated value in USD to acquire the pack.

Once you’ve decided on the amount you want to buy, you can proceed and click the Buy button and confirm the transaction from your wallet. From my example below the buy button isn’t available but instead shows Insufficient funds, this is because I do not have enough BTC to initiate the transaction. 

Option 2: Buying Bitcoin Runes on Unisat

Step 1 – Go to Unisat’s website and connect your wallet upon arrival.

Step 2 – Go to the Runes Marketplace.

To navigate to the marketplace, click on the “Marketplace” button from the navigation bar, then select “Runes.”

Step 3 –  Browse through the Available Runes.

Once the Runes marketplace page opens, you’ll see a list of available Runes that you can choose from.

Step 4 – Choose a Rune to buy.

From the list of Runes, choose the Rune that you would like to own by clicking on it. From the image below, I selected the first Rune on the list.

Step 5 – Buy Your Runes.

Once you select your desired Rune, you will be taken to the buy page. Here you’ll see a list of your desired Rune available in packs for sale. 

It’s important to note that you can’t buy a single Rune token out of a pack  (just the way you can buy a single memecoin), so when you decide to buy, you’re agreeing to buy the quantity of runes listed in the pack.

Once you’ve decided on the amount you want to buy, you can proceed and click the Buy button and confirm the transaction.

Selling Bitcoin Runes

If you ever get tired of holding a Rune or you just want to cash out on your profit. It’s quite simple to sell your Rune, all you have to do is list it on a secondary marketplace.

You can easily list it on MagicEden by following these steps:

Step 1 – Click the “Sell” button 

Assuming you want to sell the Rune that I used as an example in the steps on how to buy Bitcoin Runes via MagicEden above. Still within the selected rune page, you need to navigate to the “SELL” section.

Step 2 – Select the pack  you’d like to list.

From the image below, If I had successfully purchased the DOG GO TO THE MOON Rune, I would see the pack in the highlighted area and would be able to select it.

Step 3 – List your Rune.

The final step is to click on the “List” button. From the image below, I currently do not have any Rune, so the “List” button is grayed out and shows “Select Runes to Sell”.

Sell your runes on Unisat

A popular alternative marketplace is Unisat. You can easily list your Rune on Unisat by following these steps:

Step 1 – Go to the Marketplace.

When you are on the Rune marketplace page, click on the “My Assets” button. This will display all the assets available in your wallet that you can list on the marketplace.

From the image below, I currently do not have any Runes. So, upon clicking on the “My Assets” button, the message “No runes found” pops up.