Steem delegation business is changing. What is behind Steem pump: are whales buying Steem or its the magic of SBD?

There used to be 20% or more APR that can be earned from delegation through @dlease or @minnowboaster before hardfork 20. Once HF21 and HF22 took place, delegation profits are ever declining, now it is 12.5%.

The reason is obvious that people who ask for delegation has to earn that percentage or more. In the age of non-linear reward and free downvotes, getting the higher APR is unpredictable.

Another option for passive investors is to delegate to DApps such as @steemhunt, @steem.leo, @actifit or @dilike project and earn their respective tokens.

For example, @steem.leo tribe offers 18% APR based on current price of LEO and @steemhunt offers 20% APR. It means that if delegator sell earned LEO/HUNT through delegation, they has to match the ask price and hope someone will buy LEO/HUNT from them. This way, they will earn 18-20% APR. However, it will be more if LEO or HUNT's price increases in future or be less if LEO/HUNT's price decreases in future. Therefore, there is an inherent risk to chose the right DApp with strong growth.

If a right DApp is chosen for delegation, better ROI can be achieved by earning their token. Yes there is a risk involved. For example, if we look into's LEO price versus Steem it has increased by 50% in last month. However, it is not guaranteed since next month it go down 40% too. Therefore, I recommend delegators to do their own research before delegation.

In the meantime, @steem.leo tribe has managed 600K SP delegations through @leo.voter.

Therefore, it looks like that in future delegation business can be mostly dominated by DApp tokens.

What is behind Steem pump to 16.5 cents (temporarily)? Are whales buying Steem or its the magic of SBD?

The pattern of the pump looks like a big buyer or buyers bought a large amount of Steem based on speculation. If that buyer is a very big fish, then he will wait for bids to be populated with lower numbers and then he will run through again and again. This is how big players take their positions.

If he is not a big fish, then we have to wait for another such fish to take position for another such a big pump. Or, return of overall altcoin bull run can change the scenario all together too.

In the meantime, SBD is almost pumped to $1 ($0.95 to be exact). It looks like SBD potato project is working. However, Steem's bullishness also improves SBD's price action.

Now question is whether SBD's strength helping Steem's price. I am not so sure looking at the pattern of the pump: a sudden run over the bid prices. However, strengthening the SBD's price will definitely have positive effect on Steem but slowly.

Disclaimer: This opinion is not a financial advice, it my personal perspective and opinion. Please seek professionals for financial decisions. This opinion is only for educational purpose.

Image sources: Most images are open sourced (e.g. Pixabay, Wikimedia etc.) with Creative common license. Some images are used with due courtesy to respected owners.

Thanks for reading.
@dtrade
Cryptominer , occasional trader and tech blogger since 2013