Quick Tip: What's In My Wallet? - Simple Understanding of STEEM, STEEM POWER , and STEEM DOLLARS
What's In My Wallet?
This is a "Quick Tip" to help those that happened to notice something cool in their wallets (and it better than you think). (see below)
In the picture above you can see 3 lines of real money that has accumulated in my wallet (but you have your own). This is money that you have earned and you can do with it what you like. It is yours and you've earned it.
First Is STEEM
STEEM is a currency that has been created and you've earned. It trades exactly like every other currency in the world.
Note: Right now as of this moment the value (or also called the exchange rate) is US$6.21 for each STEEM you own. (Note: if you live outside the US just multiple your own exchange rate to the dollar by the dollar value of your STEEM)
You can get the current price by clicking this link (CLICK HERE)
You can sell it, you can buy it, you can hold it; just like any other currency. To find the value of your STEEM just multiple the amount you have times the price listed. So if you have 5 STEEM, you would have about $31 of value!
Calculation: 5 STEEM x US$6.21 = $31.05
Simple huh? :)
Next Is STEEM POWER (or SP)
STEEM POWER or more commonly referred to as SP is also very easy to understand. It is STEEM you have earned that you have decided to keep/invest into the platform. What do I mean invested? It means you are going to "tie" your STEEM up (or "invest" it) for a period of 13 weeks so that people know you are going to be around for awhile. You can get your SP powered down back into STEEM at the rate of 1/13th per week.
Note: you can always take your STEEM out if it is in your STEEM balance by just selling it to any exchange, BUT you can't redeem your STEEM POWER until you tell the system to "power you back down" into STEEM.
Said another way, STEEM is what you want to keep if you plan on selling it soon. STEEM POWER is what you want if you plan on being here for the long term and holding it.
Note: the benefits of keeping your money in SP is that you get higher voting power and more bandwidth. Both of which are desirable and useful benefits. If you see those big big votes that have ever hit your posts, its because the person that upvoted you had a lot of SP and therefore they have higher impact on your earnings.
So the value of STEEM or SP are exactly the same, the only difference is whether you want to sell it immediately or not.
Note: the way you power up your STEEM into SP is the click on it and select the option "power up". And the opposite is true too, to power down your SP back into STEEM you just select your SP and click on the "power down" button.
My personal opinion and my strategy is that I plan on being here long term, so I am investing all of my STEEM into SP by powering it up the minute I get it. Everyone has different objectives, but mine are to grow my SP over the long term. You have to decide your own strategy, this is just an attempt to explain how it works and what my thoughts are in regards to my own situation.
Finally We Also Have A Bonus Called Steem Dollars (or SBD)
This is a 2nd currency you earn that is independent of STEEM and is also yours to do with as you wish. You can buy, sell, or hold it. It also trades on exchanges (CLICK HERE) and you can sell it or buy it at any time you like (see my current quote below)
To find the value of your SBD just multiple the amount you have times the price listed. In my case I have 4.35 SBD, so I have value in this of about $36!
Calculation: 4.35 SBD x US$8.43 = $36.67
Finally ADD Your STEEM Value To Your SBD Value (And Find Out What's In Your Wallet) :)
So when you calculate your value of your account you just do this simple calculation:
Add up the total value of your STEEM + (SP) and multiply times the market price of STEEM
My account right now (0 STEEM and 18.334 SP) = total 18.334 STEEM x US$6.21 = $113.85
Add up the total value of your SBD and multiply times the market price of SBD
My account right now (4.35 SBD) x US$8.43 = $36.67
For a total of the 2 currencies (total value of my account) $113.85 + $36.67 = $150
Conclusion
This is just another "Quick Tip" that is meant to help those that don't understand how it works. I as always would be happy to answer any questions in the comment section below. In addition, if you would like me to personally look at your account and tell you exactly what its worth, just tag me in any comment @davemccoy and I will be happy to come and help you.
I plan on going over strategies in the near future and the different options that you have available to grow your balances wisely. I'm currently evaluating several services like @bumper that I have found to be a great help to me. I wanted to give you a basic understanding of what the currencies are so that you can take full advantage of the opportunities I plan to present ahead.
Have a terrific day and please leave any comments letting me know if this was useful. :)
A great explanation. I took a long time to understand this when I first joined. I wish there had been a great article like this, then
Thank you for saying that @sayee, that is very nice to hear from a more experienced steemian. I'm glad you took the time to read it and to let me know. Its good to wake up and see this compliment first thing in the day :)
welcome sir
Always helpful information. So may I ask...the steem which is at .oo1 for me is what shows up when I upvote something? and that reflects my voting power which pays those whom I upvote?
If so then SP is what? bandwith, influence?
Should I buy both? That way my steem or vote helps pay others, as well as my SP is kinda like savings?
Am I overthinking this,lol. Thank you again. RESPECT
I'll try to help you with this answer, so just tell me if you need further help.
Upvoting something does help you to earn currency, but it is not yours until they pay you in your wallet.
So you are asking about 2 separate things. Upvoting is just one way to earn money as a "curator", the other way to earn money is being an "author" of both posts and comments.
So I'm going to upvote you right now to make this explanation real to you. I just voted you $0.01. Now what that means is that steemit will pay out a total of $0.01 in 7 days. You as the author will get at least 75% of that and I as the curator can get as much at 25% of that vote. In 7 days, they will pay that out and it will be paid 1/2 in SBD (or 0.005 total SBD between the two of us) and the other half in US$ equivalent of STEEM... You will know what happens as you start getting these payments and they are automatic after 7 days.
Now you wallet is simply where they store up... They are an accumulation of all the things you have earned so far (but remember it takes 7 days for anything to show up). What you are seeing with the .001 STEEM is what they gave you when you opened the account.
Finally SP is it, its the one to own ultimately (remember though it will change in price a lot)... Its what you want to have because its what give you earnings from just your votes. Right now you don't get much for your votes, but as you get bigger your votes get bigger an therefore your earnings get better. I am working on putting together what you can do with your SBD, but I am either using @bumper or converting it into more SP (depending on the conversion price being favorable to me or not).
I think you can never overthink anything ;).. It takes some brain cells to wrap your mind around this. I would say that you shouldn't get frustrated, because while it is simple once you understand it, it is very hard to grasp in the beginning. So giving it some thinking is a good thing.
Just ask me questions you have at any time, but if you want to learn it, I promise you that I can teach it to you. :)
Thank you again. I appreciate the time you have spent just replying to my questions. I have learned alot from them. If I have any others I will ask. RESPECT
That's what I hope for, that's how we grow together! :)
Great and useful information, thanks @davemccoy. Am grateful have been looking for someone to explain these things., and i know there are many people like me and thats why am re-steeming this post.
Hi @mike1wealth its great that you commented to me. First we get to connect to each other, second because I get a chance to tell you that I am always here to give you any help from my experience I can. I'm glad you liked the explanation and I welcome you to read my blog page which has about 10 other articles that also cover issues you are going through right now. And if you have any question about any of it, jlmk and I will be happy to respond and do my best to help you.
I also wanted to tell you that early in the game the best thing to do is what you just did, and that is to make a sincere and honest comment to an author. It helps you to get to know people and establish connections and it also helps you to earn far more in the beginning because authors appreciate honest and truthful responses (and they will upvote you just to encourage you to continue to do so).
Note: I am going to upvote you too, but my vote is still pretty small, but don't worry about the money because it is all about getting respect. That's how you make it here in steemit, its be improving your reputation and earning the respect of your peers.
I sincerely appreciate you taking hte time to comment and to let me know you liked the post. And the resteem is also awesome, so thank you also for that. I hope you stay in touch and I'm glad I got to meet you so early on. Cheers :)
This is a very useful post, thank you very much 🙂. It really helps to put some things into place for me about how Steemit works.
Also a quick thank you to @looksfarwoman who recommended following your blog
I'm glad you like this @ezmonator and I'm glad she connected us too. I know you have @looksfarwoman to give you guidance, but if I can help with anything let me know!
ps I'm upvoting you so that you realize that making lots of sincere comments to other authors posts is a great way to make friends, build a following of your own, and also to make a little money. Its the best way to succeed, so keep engaging!
Thank you @davemccoy! I'm definitely trying to get myself into the community more and make sincere comments. Especially as at this point in time I have no idea what to blog about 😂.
You got the right idea... I checked your page and you have enough on there if someone wants to check you out... Now you need to get out there and jump into conversations... There are many cool people here so use the tags on the left when you first come in and find topics that interest you and just make comments... I also suggest you follow first everyone on the page you like, because chances are they will like you too... And at a minimum your feed will fill up with people that you have something in common with... Keep in touch I'd like to see you do well!
You just ooze good advice don't you @davemccoy? 😂 Would it be too much to say thank you again? 😋
Of course not...lol... Let me know how you are doing and focus on getting those comments out there letting people know you. You're welcome to comment to me any time :)
When you power down you get it by the month? I heard it was a 13th of what you have in sp each week for 13 weeks. I read this by more than one source....
yes you are right... I wrote it wrong, I'm going to fix that... thanks for the heads up @jentz44 :)
Love the update function, lol... I have fixed many such mistakes. Thanks a lot for the catch, hopefully it didn't confuse too many before I change it!
You're welcome! Glad I was a help :) if I see things like that that I know I'll point them out in the future.
thank you @davemccoy for this information. I'm only on my 2nd day although i had the account well over a month (i think).
There so many steps and jargons for me to grasp too, but i'm getting there.. slowly but surely.
Hope you don't mind me bothering u in some of my doubts or confusion with steemit ... i just did 2 post... this is a totally new world for me and of cos for every newbie.
You are always welcome to "bother me" lol... I welcome the opportunity to help you @carolfung (my Mom's name is Carol so that's got to make you a nice person) ;)
I have written about 10 articles about topics that are going to be coming up soon for you and I too was lost a bit in the very beginning. The good thing is that time moves very fast in steemville and you will be teaching others within weeks :) ... If you want to go through my blog I have about 10 articles and at your stage (day 2) you should only read what you are interested in at this moment (otherwise it will go in one ear and out the other).. The biggest thing seriously is to ask me anything, I don't mind helping and no question is to stupid. I understand that everyone has a different background, skills, interests, and motivations; so just ask me any time and I will always be happy to help you...
And btw, you are doing well for day 2... You already have a reputation score of 34, which is up from 25 in just 2 days... Impressive!!!
And second btw, you naturally are doing something right now that will serve you well, and that is engaging the author (me) with a good well thought out and sincere comment. Authors like that and will upvote you if they feel they bond with you. So just to show you how that works, I am upvoting you right now (its only 0.01, but its something for just being engaging and honest) ;) ...
Also I am now also following you because I feel a connection by your question and the impression you gave me. That is another benefit of engaging the authors. (Hint: one more thing, most of the people that comment on my page are the same as you, so you might want to follow them to make more connections and learn who the good people are).
Ok, sorry to be so long, but I wanted to welcome you and I did like the way you asked your questions.. I promise I won't be as long winded in the future, and my fingers aren't even crossed behind my back :)
I hope you stay in touch and of course visit me regularly and often... And I will also look at your posts and get to know your work too! Welcome to steemit!!!
@davemccoy,
I have upvoted and resteemed, hope I was of little help here
also, I would like to share a website with you where you can find lot information about bot software
https://s3.amazonaws.com/yabapmatt/bottracker/bottracker.html
We can check the available bot, their return, time when they are active, steem power and the minnimum bid they accept
awesome... I will check that out prem! That's the way to share good ideas and build our community!
sure @davemccoy
help and gain help
we r growing together
I tried it last night... fascinating... thanks prem
Wow this is super helpful info! I just started using steemit 3 days ago and am new to ALL of this. This explained things very well for me! Resteem!
Thank you very much and you are doing very well in your 3 days (Hint: I can tell by your 47 reputation score in case you haven't gotten to my Reputation article yet) ;)
Its very nice to meet you and I'm glad you commented, now we are connected and to me that's the best thing about the comments I make (I meet new people). I am happy to have your here on steemit and I will be available to answer any question you may have at any time about anything. I'm certainly not an expert, but if I don't know the answer I'll try to find it.
Welcome aboard @alaynaclair and stay in touch :)
I did not know all this in details. Your post is very helpful to me I love it your an eye opener to the newbies. The community need vibrant people like you. Thank you for sharing this. God bless you
I'm glad you found it helpful @fidelmboro :) ... And thank you for the compliments and your observations! I also want you to pass this kind of information along to your friends and followers in your words too. We can all be the vibrant people you said I was, and I am convinced you can be a vibrant person helping others out too! Thanks again and may God bless you too my friend :)
Thanks for the summary. An explanation of the utility of SBD would be helpful, too.
Its coming very soon... I had to get the basics down first so that I didn't make the article explaining that too long. Thanks for telling me what you like, its good to know what people are interested in learning more about. Also to give you a quicky on that topic. It is just a currency that is how we get paid for our posts/curation... When you see the little pennies, that is the amount you will be paid out at the rate of 1/2 SBD and 1/2 of the dollar value of STEEM. This took me awhile to figure out their formula, but now I can figure it... So as of today if you get a .01 its not just a US$ penny... If you want to know before my article comes out just ask.
And as for the utility, I've used my SBD for two purposes.. 1) using services like @bumper that will grow it your value through compounding quickly and 2) converting my SBDs directly into STEEM (and then powering them up into SP)... Because of the big move in STEEM, I'm focusing more on #1 right now and not on #2... But a week ago I was get more than 2 1/2 STEEM for each SBD and I was very happy with that. Again I will also be covering this topic soon too... If you have any more questions, jlmk! Thanks for the feedback too, its appreciated @jbriggs