Where every action is a trade made

It is pretty quiet in the office today as many people have chosen to either take the day off or work from home considering that they already know that not much is going on. I have chosen to come in with a handful of other people as it is a great time to get some of the work chores out of the way uninterrupted. Since there aren't many people around for lunch, I figured I would also use the opportunity to write a little.

Take as many opportunities as possible.

I have been feeling a little antsy lately and have been looking for something to work toward. What I should be doing is getting my health in order to a greater degree which is namely, eating better and increasing my activity level. I have started doing this at home and have been using some resistance bands semi-regularly the last week or so. It doesn't burn calories, but it has made my muscles feel a little better - like they are doing something useful, rather than atrophying.

But, that isn't really cutting it. What has been taking up more of my mind lately are the thoughts of trading. I have been doing a little here and there randomly setting some buy and sells, but I think I should invest a bit more time and effort into it as I believe that I can catch some of the volatility in the market in the same way I did a couple of years ago. I have no real methodology to it, but considering the volumes I am working with it isn't going to kill me to play around and learn a bit more.

I am pretty sure that most of the coins out there in the marketplace are going to fail eventually, but on the way down there are going to be plenty of pumps. These pumps make holders think that what they have is valuable, but I think that unless there is more to a coin than speculation, the market will eventually give up on it as more and more enter the marketplace.

Almost 5000 cryptocurrencies are being tracked according to CMC, but how many are useful? I know that people are worried that Steem has slipped down the rankings by market capitalization, but in the time it was top ten, thousands more coins have entered without necessarily many more participation. And then, most new participants are going to be on the popular tokens like bitcoin and Ethereum that get mentioned in the news from time to time. '

Eventually though, the market starts to mature and investors start looking for long-term gains that still offer the high potential return of crypto in comparison to traditional markets. I think Steem is one of these tokens as it has history behind it as well as a community that continually evolves it for their needs and wants. It also has varied "in-Steem" utility that in itself has personal value as a token that empowers usage. Even as prices have plummeted, it isn't like people have stopped curating with their stake, as they still want to be in the game.

While far from stable, STEEM for me is a stable token earner as I can use it without market exposure to increase my token holdings. Every week now I am able to curate (I don't Self-vote) and earn about 120 STEEM POWER, which at that rate amounts to about 6200 STEEM per year, a 10% increase on my active holdings. I consider that pretty good. Plus of course, to earn that, I also distribute about the same amount to content creators on the platform.

While 10% is not a massive amount in crypto, and 6000 STEEM isn't worth a great deal currently, earning it from doing what I enjoy doing without risk is pretty good. I get to read the kinds of content I like to read, I get to engage with the kinds of people I like to talk with and without risk, get a return. Of course, the external Steem price will fluctuate, but the internal value of Steem is pretty much static. One STEEM is one STEEM. At least on the platform, Steem is a stable coin, relative to stake and a known inflation rate, both of which are visible.

I like this process of "trading" better than that of the exchanges because it is social and win/win. When i vote on someone to reward them and get a curation return myself, we have both benefited from earning Steem. When I buy on an exchange, I actually have no idea who the person I am buying from is or if they are winning or losing. They might have bought high and are forced to sell low, they might have bought low and been lucky enough to sell high. It doesn't matter to me.

Trading on exchanges is a pretty cold and lonely business in my experience, and it is no wonder that those who spend a great deal of time doing it aren't necessarily the most social among us, nor the most socially considerate. If you think of the caricature of the stereotypical cut-throat Wall street trader, is that what crypto traders are like? When it comes to successful trading, greed is good, but that is not what builds a successful business that relies on a user base. People do not buy an Apple phone because Apple is worth a lot of money as a company, they buy it because of the experience and product itself.

While value of coins are the largest attraction of crypto, it is going to attract a certain kind of user base who are unlikely to build strong social ties. However, once the applications that utilize the tokens are able to be attractive for end users beyond the token value, then the tokens will see real growth as users empower the application through usage.

I think that Steem applications and communities of the future will be at their best when the tokenization is not at the forefront of the experience but rather, an enhancement to the experience in the same way that getting ranks in CS:GO is valuable for the player. Once this becomes the norm in the ecosystem, Steem becomes much more attractive to participate in and of course through that, more attractive as an investment vehicle with potential that stabilizes the larger it gets, and the more decentralized the community functions become.

Ah, you see? While I am antsy and looking for things to spend my time on, Steem is a home where I am able to keep my mind ticking over and working toward the future. Every time I get onto Steem and every transaction I make whether it is a vote, a post, a comment or a transfer, I am trading in a marketplace that leverages behaviors to make it valuable. Just like on Facebook, we on Steem are the product - with the difference being that we also own the network.

While I enjoy the challenge and emotional reflection trading on exchanges provides, I much prefer the interaction of Steem for value of life experience shared. What is great is that with an economy that has external as well as internal value, there are so many possible "trading pairs" on Steem that it is impossible to run out of market options. The entire Steem ecosystem is a massive and complicated game where the only limitation is imposed by skill and will.

Happy Steem trading!

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]