If your anything like me you will be well aware that SBD and Steem are near parity - checking a moment ago on coinmarketcap the price of Steem and Steem Backed Dollars (SBD) were both sitting at $1.05USD. This has some implications for users on Steemit, but will vary depending on individual views.

Powering up

I have always been an advocate of powering up any liquid funds that you have spare to Steem Power. Now that SBD and Steem are at parity you can essentially trade Steem and SBD 1:1. This means you will be getting more Steem relative to what you were getting in the past when powering up. I remember powering up, even recently and the ratio was 0.8:1 - so if I had waited I would have had more Steem power!

So if you are interested in building your account (and influence) on Steem, then powering up now seems to be a good idea. Remeber powering up means that your liquid funds will now become less liquid, but you will be building more power and increasing the value of your upvotes (and curation rewards!).

Will SBD stay at or near $1?

The idea behind SBD is that they were designed to be traded at, or around $USD - essentially a 'stable' currency. However, since the 'boom' of crypto in late 2017 the price of SBD has fluctuated wildly, reaching a peak of over $13! The price of SBD has been falling for some time now seems to be stabilising around or near $1USD.


If SBD can stay around $1USD and we expect Steem (sooner or later!) to rise in price, then again now is probably a good time to power up. No one really knows what will happen in crypto though, and the price of Steem could keep dropping.

How much liquid funds do you need?

Again this depends on your own vision for Steem and also your own personal needs. For me, I don't need any of the moeny I earn from Steem and if it all collapsed tommorow my life would go on. So I guess I have a higher 'risk profile' than some, and in this case more reason to take the risk that Steem will rise in the future and thus power up. I generally power up most of my earnings, and just keep a little bit spare for any upvote bots (which I dont use alot of), and also any @steembasicincome giveaways I want to run.

Some people use bots alot (no judgements from me!), and thus need more liquid funds. I have read of other accounts who use some of their funds from Steem as supplementary income or even to live off - again in this case you would want more liquid funds.

Conclusion

With the price of SBD and Steem sitting around parity, it is a good time to review your account and your strategies around powering up. Although powering up is not for everyone, it seems like a good time to atleast consider it.

What do you think? Are you going to be powering up, or are you already powering up?