About a month ago I wrote a post My Experience Buying an Upvote and My Conclusions. In that post I concluded that buying the upvote resulted in a net gain of about 30%. The gain was entirely in SP and I took a small loss in SBD (also about 30%).
Here is my direct conclusion from the initial post "I spent $2.487 SBD so I netted -$0.826 SBD and 1.841 STEEM power. I get my negative figure by subtracting the $.9 and my investment of $2.487 [SBD] from the payout. In the end – the vote purchase was a positive over a non-purchase by about 85 cents. That value is locked in STEEM power, but it was a net gain." (I added "SBD" in the second sentence, even though it is clear from the first sentence)
Here is what my payout looked like:
I think we can all agree that the market was a bit different a month ago. Steem and SBD were tracking each other closely and thus I concluded that I netted a small profit. Could I say the same today? Using Coinmarketcap's STEEM price I see that steem is selling for $1.88 right now, while Coinmarketcap's SBD price is $8.76. Looking at the internal market I see that 1 SBD will buy over 6 STEEM.
If one SBD is worth 6 STEEM right here on the internal market, Taking a $0.826 SBD loss is NOT made up when I have a 1.841 SP gain. For those that are brand new, SP and STEEM are the same currency, but SP has to go through a 13 week powerdown before it fully transforms into liquid STEEM. At the current rate, a $0.826 SBD loss is equal to -$7.24 USD while the 1.841 SP gain is +$3.46 USD. The net of this transaction with all other factors being equal except market conditions is -$3.78 USD.
While under the conditions a month ago I was able to claim a small net gain (a little less than $1 USD), my net of the same transaction today would be a decent sized loss. The advice I gave last month is still good though, because buying upvotes didn't do nearly as much for me as commenting on posts and networking in the discords has. I can say this a month further in my journey into the STEEM blockchain. I have been decidedly social in that last month or so, and have come out better for it.
I hope to see you all in the comments and in the discords.