Not all Steemit user have experience with trading or exchange, it could be confusing just like what I've gone through. so if you are new, hopefully this can help you to get the most Steem when trading up your Steem Dollar (SBD).
As you might know, when you go to wallet you'll see three "currency": Steem, Steem Power and Steem Dollars". Steem is the most liquid compared to the other two but it has a high inflation rate (9.5%)
while Steem Power is like long term investment but to power down (convert it to Steem), your Steem Power will be divided into 104 part and every part will be paid out weekly (2 years in total) - recently there was a change, now to power down you only need 3 months.
if you believe in Steemit, you should invest it in Steem Power. Four different ways to convert (power up) your Steem Dollars (SBD):
1. Convert to Steem
This is the easiest way, the draw back is that you don't know the conversion rate and it's only available after 3 days. I don't recommend to buy Steem or power up in this way.
2. Internal Market
just like an exchange / market there's a people trying to sell and buy. If you want to buy Steem, take a look at the "Buy Steem" it will give you the lowest price that people willing to let go.
fill in your total amount (how much SBD you are willing to sell) and you'll be able to see the amount (the Steem amount that you'll get). from my screenshot, I'm trying to exchange 10 SBD and I'm getting 6.667 Steem
3. Sell (BlockTrades)
this is pretty simple, you just change the currency and enter the amount.
in this case, 10 SBD will give you a 6.559 Steem Power = 6.559 Steem
4. External Exchange
I like to use changelly because it's easy to use for newbie like me and the rate isn't that bad (very bad if you want to convert USD/EUR to any coins). you can create an account from here
10 SBD, will give you 6.722 Steem. I'm quite surprise actually when I saw changelly giving a better rate than the internal market.
Summary
so how to maximise your SBD trading? simple compare the price from 2,3 and 4 and pick one with the best rate. in this example:
A. Internal market 10 SBD = 6.667 Steem
B. BlockTrades 10 SBD = 6.559 Steem
C. Changelly 10 SBD = 6.722 Steem
please take a note that the price is fluctuating very fast. If it's just a small amount / very little difference, you may consider trading it via internal market because it's the fastest way.