When Is The Best Time To Earn STEEM?
Good Question
Thank you. I'm glad I asked.
Given how many people who have left the platform, presumably because their content wasn't being upvoted, or because the value of STEEM to fiat is too low, I would say that for the last several months to now is the best time to earn STEEM.
That's right. The exact opposite of what so many people are doing.
That is, unless the idea wasn't to build stake and hold for a brighter day, but to use STEEM as a supplemental income if not the primary source. Then, it makes perfect sense to go and find something else to do. Even if now is the best time to accumulate STEEM, bills need to be paid and food put on the table. Unless you happen to live somewhere that excepts STEEM for those kinds of things (and you can make STEEM hand over fist—unlikely), you still need fiat to subsist on.
However, if your intent is to build stake and hold onto STEEM for that future brighter day, it doesn't make sense, especially if you're using the social media part of STEEM and any of the dApps that runs off community input through posts, comments and curation.
Here's My Reasoning
People apparently complain that people ignore their posts. I read about this secondhand. I guess I'm not following the folks who talk about this directly. Regardless, if there's fewer people posting or commenting, even if that results in fewer people upvoting, it also means your stuff is competing against less of other people's stuff, which means a higher potential that someone will actually see it. Not only that, but there's a higher chance that someone might actually have an account large enough to leave more than a fraction of a penny (even though there will still be many of those kinds of upvotes—the more the merrier).
The next point is, SBD value as far as the STEEM reward system remains constant no matter what SBD's open market value is, whereas the value of STEEM is determined by a 3.5 moving average of said open market. That means, if STEEM is higher than SBD's fixed amount, the ability to earn STEEM/SP is actually less than it is when the value of STEEM drops below the fixed value of SBD.
Now, how that translates to fiat is a different story, but we're not talking about that. We're talking about the ability to earn STEEM/SP.
And That's Not All
We should also be talking about investing. For some, that seems like a dirty word, either because they don't have money to invest (needs always come first) or because the perceived needs of the investor class always seems to be in direct opposition to the needs of the STEEM user. That may be true, too, especially when dApps make choices that affect the user experience, allegedly, in favor of the investor. However, in a bear market, if there's any disposable income at all to use, the investor could be you and me.
And in my case, I absolutely believe that my ability to earn STEEM has increased because I invested in myself.
In other words, the interests of the investor (me) actually benefits the user (me).
That's right. My ability to earn STEEM/SP has gone up because I put some money into it. I earn more on my powered up STEEM (SP), meaning I could be doing nothing and still be accumulating SP. I can also make more in curation, simply because I can allocate more to posts and comments, or spread my upvote to more posts and comments. The more I do that, as well as comment, the more people see me, wonder who I am and end up, guess what, upvoting and engaging with my posts and comments.
So, When Is The Best Time To Earn STEEM?
The time is now. It's been going on for several months actually, and while STEEM remains in value where it is relative to SBD, it will continue to be the best time.
Image source—Pixabay.
Now is the perfect time to look at your settings as well. If you set your comment rewards to 100% Power Up, you probably won't notice that the the little bit of SBD you may have been getting from comments falls away, but the speed at which your SP accumulates increases, thus increasing your curation rewards and building your stake (or investing in yourself) by commenting.
Hey, @sparkesy43.
So, you think it's best to go straight to SP in this situation? I've been kind of waiting for that scenario to happen, but haven't quite seen where it would be better or any different than the SBD/SP split.
And that's because it's hard enough to wrap my brain around how the payment works, let alone do the math to see what I'm gaining or losing in the payment ratio. So if you have a trick to that, I'd love to know. :)
Personally for me it's just about growth. I still take the 50/50 split on my posts, but I figure rewards for comments are usually on the small side, so powering up with them is just a quicker way to help me grow. I don't have a specific theory or formula that I use, just a desire to have a strong SP base when the next bull run comes.
Okay. I get what you're saying.
I typically convert the SBD to STEEM and power it up on everything, which is probably a round about way of doing things, but anyway. In the current situation it makes me feel like I'm actually making more (even though the straight to SP option, for all I know, could be the same or better). It's a psychological thing, I guess, and while I'm usually not that much into mind games, this one seems to help. :)
I keep a little bit of SBD & Steem on hand in case an opportunity arises, but I do generally power up the rest of my earnings as well, yet finding the right time for a conversion vs a market sale is its own set of challenges.
Well, sir, I do say I think you're right. I will be kicking myself in the future for not earning and investing more over the last few months. Trying to get back in slowly but it's like all the Steem cells in my body got burned out with the drop in price, lol.
Hey, @bbrewer.
I think you've been a part of the vastly prevailing sentiment here, that's all. We are very much still in a world of fiat, and so, dollar values are important.
re: kicking myself
Well, as you know, I spent at least half of last year kicking myself for not getting in sooner, when the prices were lower, only to find myself still here when the prices fell and became so affordable, it was hard not to invest. To the point now I'm kicking myself for not waiting longer (though it's tempered with the fact that I wasn't doing much with little to no SP, so my purchasing high was more or less needed for me to even continue).
So, I guess we've kicked ourselves enough over STEEM. The question becomes, what do we do from now on? How to move forward, and maybe even before that, will it even be worth it. I've proceeded with the idea that, absolutely, it will be, and that this lingering crypto winter is the best time to accumulate STEEM. However, if that proves wrong, I will have six and a half thousand STEEM that might get me a hot chocolate at Dutch Bros. after I wait 13 weeks to be able to power it down. :)
Proof that it is impossible to time the markets, really. The key is to invest in projects we believe in, which we have both done.
I am new on the platform, but I am sure that if try and approach everything creatively, can achieve success now.
Hey, @bredcovin.
Looks like you've been around a month or so. During the high growth months of last year, a month would have made you one of the oldtimers. :)
How's it going for you? I can see you've been commenting, which is good. Are you involved in any communities, folks you can associate with on a regular basis while you're feeling things out and going through the rather steep learning curve? :)
re: creatively
I think there's definitely room for some out of the box thinking here. Finding a niche is pretty important, I think, unless you don't really have any one thing you're into, then it's pretty much make the rounds to as many as you can, through posting, commenting and curating. Or, that's been my experience so far.
Welcome to STEEM, by the way. :)
Excellent review @glenalbrethsen and I completely agree with you that now need to invest in Steem, use it correctly and the bright day will come!
Hey, @serkagan.
Well, hopefully this post will help to provide a different perspective, at the very least. There's plenty of problems that can be addressed on the platform, and just as many opinions as to what those problems are to begin with, then if they can be fixed, then how to do them. Some of them are more perception than they are real. Unfortunately, those tend to be the hardest to address because there's little to do other than somehow change people's minds. And that's hard enough for those of us who might like to change our own minds, let alone someone who's not ready. :)
Absolutely agree with you! Considering the fact that we are now a more close knit group of active participants, we can acknowledge those that have remained committed and will be remembered in the future. It also allows the rewards pool to be distributed to fewer that are participating. A great time to accumulate for the eventual value creation from the future growth and development.
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I agree with you. We do have a fairly active core of participants, and we are pretty knowledgeable, especially those who want to be, about STEEM and its inner workings, and I think those who have been taking advantage of this cool down period will be rewarded for it when STEEM takes off. It's just trying to stick things out until then that becomes the hard part for a lot of folks, but that doesn't mean their stake disappears if they have to step away for a while, so even that's okay.
Short answer - - "When is the best time to earn steem?" Six days ago and today. My last two post. LoL. I need to post more, and comment more.
Hey, @bashadow.
Well, posting and commenting are all things we do more of, to an extent. I'm not sure where the saturation point is, but for me, it seems to be any number above two posts a day, and sometimes, I get better results (or so it seems), if I don't even post every day. So, not sure how that works, but I'm sure all of our experiences vary.
As others have been saying here, and now you, best time is any time to earn STEEM. Since we still seem to be stuck in a crypto winter, I was trying to give people a last second boost of incentive, to invest if at all possible and earn more cheap STEEM, since we're going into the months where historically, STEEM spikes to some nice high amount (April to July) before falling for a period back down to more or less where we are now.
Well back below 600 on account value for me, so that means more steem SP on payouts, and more steem for steem monster card sales, so a good day I guess to buy steem. I just hope it does not steem fall back to under 400 again for me, but if it does, then more monster cards on the block.
Hey.
I don't come here much often anymore since I have a lot of other things to do. Wife, work, school (last year finally), dog and youth group and the occasional trading study keep me well occupied.
I am grateful to see that your account value has increased so much from the first day we talked. Mine, not so much. For obvious reasons.
Still, I am happy to see such low prices. As you may recall, I once actually stated in a conversation of ours that we might see prices around 0,35. And we've actually seen even less than that. And as much as it may hurt, I believe it's a good thing. I've been watching the space closely and studying the developments and I think they have been great.
While that price point might sound daunting and especially to us, who have bought at prices well above 1 dollar, I am in no way loosing optimism for this platform. Even more so now, when we are seeing increased interest in digital rights management and even stuff like EU Article 13 could have impact on decentralised economies.
I hope you are doing great IRL. I remember reading a story about your wife. I hope all is well.
Hey, @tim3w4rp.
Long time no see! Sounds like life definitely has you busy.
I took advantage of some lower pricing for STEEM around the $0.50 mark, and was pretty much able to double what I had invested then. Helped quite a bit to lower the average STEEM purchase. :) Since then, though, I've pretty much been cut off. I really don't have too much more I can dedicate to investing now, unless the price were to fall under $0.05 USD, which I don't think anyone wants to see.
I agree. I think there's been a lot of good things happening lately with the lower pricing, including smaller accounts buying, and for some reason, larger accounts selling off. I get a little concerned when Ned or someone associated with Steemit starts doing things like that, but then it makes them less influential on the platform, too, which some would say is good.
It's good to hear your optimistic about the platform. You have quite a bit of knowledge and good judgment about many different things, so it's reassuring to read that's what you think.
re: IRL
Well, great is a little ambitious—things could always be better, but as they say, it could always be worse. My situation will be better when my wife is no longer working, which either means I'm working full time again, or STEEM has made it above, oh, $25 and stayed there. That could work. :)
re: my wife
She is well. If you're referring to the car accident she was in, she was not hurt physically in it, but did end up traumatized for a while. Since, though, she has been driving and back to work. Our car was able to get repaired and the insurance paid for it all, so that was good.
Don't be a stranger, if at all possible. You've got a lot on your plate, but it still nice to hear from you from time to time. So many of the people who I started out with are either off platform, curtailed their activity, or more involved in the games like STEEM Monsters and Drugwars, so I'm constantly searching out someone to have a conversation with. :)
Regarding Ned and other big players. I think it is of very little significance in any direction.
Simple example: You can make the argument that they sold their stake and as such, they are somewhat abandoning the platform, which can result in what? Less trustworthiness ? Them loosing monetary interests and thus executing poorly on their job? (This was exactly the point of some bad news about LTC and they attributed the selloff to the drop in price)
Looking back, such massive correction has been long overdue and it was only healthy.
The other way could be: It simply makes the service/platform/project or what have you more decentralised. Must be a good thing. Right? ... Right?
Except it isn't. Some platforms (BitShares for example) are loosing traction exactly because of their decentralised nature. The community simply can not agree on how to proceed. If there is still anyone left to actually vote. Not to mention the problems EOS seemed to run into with very low turnover of votes in the system.
I could go on and on, but I think you can easily see we'd be here for a long time.
Granted, my beliefs might be somewhat distorted, as I do believe what Haejin taught us - news will arrive to justify the forecast, not the other way around. First there is the movement and the news come after. That is what has proved to me time and time again.
Regarding other things. I am happy that life is being good to you. I occasionally come here to see what's brewin' and I'm happy to hear about new people coming to the platform.
Take care.
Yea. The time is now. I believe we can earn anytime. Steem can be earned anytime. Now is the time. No procastination that it is when the price goes up. Now is the best time.
Definitely this is the best time to accumulate Steem. The only problem is we could use a nice pump. It's been a while after all.
Hey, @marie-jay.
Yeah. Fiat-wise, it would be nice, especially since it's been the end of June last year since any significant bump, following a larger one in April. We've been under $1 USD since the end of August!
Now, are you saying it would be nice from a morale perspective, to keep people going, because they can see at least some interest in STEEM, or are you more concerned from fiat perspective, that it would be nice to power down some for some necessities?
I do think people ignore most posts except those of people they are closely tied to, and the good votes from people who can actually make it worthwhile to write here are actually impossible to get as they are involved in circular voting, better said they only vote for their own groups posts regardless of the quality.
Hey, @gduran.
A firsthand perspective! Okay, this is good. :)
Just to be clear, though, are you saying this is your personal experience, experiences that others are having that you know, or both perhaps? I'm interested in this, because outright ignoring a post means someone sees it, but as you've put it, they don't read it, upvote it or engage with because it's not part of their circle.
And while there's certainly room for that to happen here (all kinds of stuff occurs daily that you at least scratch your head at), how rampant would you estimate it is? Less than half? Half? More than half?
I've always been of the mind that visibility is the issue. We just don't see all there is. We can try to get out there to other people's posts day after day, but as an individual, there's just so much we can do. Collectively, though, if everyone were actually curating, most everyone could at least somewhat regularly be seen. That, I think, is another issue playing here—not everyone reads, period. Lot of autovoting going on.
So, that's one thing. The other thing, what are the posts about? Technically, they may be great, and obviously, they're of interest to the author, but are they something that even a small group of people, say a dozen or more, are going to want to read?
I have no doubt that there's circle voting, and I have no doubt that there may be some, maybe quite a few, who only upvote those in their own circle. But depending on how that's set up and how they go about it, that could be all the posts they see, which doesn't really mean they're ignoring posts outright. I mean, I guess the end result is the same, but ignoring is knowing something exists and doing nothing, which is different than not knowing because you're completely occupied with something else.
So, I'm interested in more of what you think here, because you may very well represent a cross section of people with similar sentiment that for STEEM to be a healthy, vibrant community, such things, and many many more, such an issue needs to be effectively addressed.
Well for starters in the feed tab you only see the articles of people you follow so if someone doesn't get out of the comfort zone, that is all the people that will get a vote from this person. I think that is about fair enough I can't expect people to be reading a lot of articles every day just to give out a vote, but that is certainly one of the reasons many people leave the platform.