Basically, the difference is that SBD is generally pegged to the US Dollar (usually should be about 1 for 1), while STEEM (and "up'd" STEEM, ie STEEM POWER) is the free-floating "investment" and staking side of STEEMIT. For example, if STEEM suddenly shoots up to $10 USD and you think that's nuts, you can lock some of that in by powering down some STEEM and exchanging it for US Dollar "pegged" SBD (which still freely floats around the peg, but is much more price stable than most other crypto currencies).
I don't like to make any outright recommendations as to when's the best time to buy or sell, as it really depends on each person's individual goals, timeframes, needs, etc. I have a feeling STEEM will probably head a bit lower for the time being, as it's not really given any indication so far of turning around so far. But you don't have to "load up" all at once either.
You may also consider exchanging a little SBD each day for STEEM, and hope for a better average price. If you suddenly get a big panic drop, you may want to increase those particular "BUYs" a bit more (that's more of an investing tactic as opposed to a trading tactic).
To answer your question about using BTC instead, that's an easy one. If you'd rather hold STEEM POWER over BTC, by all means consider selling some for STEEM. If you still believe BTC is a good investment at these prices, and think the U.S. dollar will be the one losing more value longer term, use SBDs instead! Hope this helps clarify a bit more. :)
Just for reference, here's an update for you on STEEM/SBD on a 60 minute chart:
@alexpmorris Man you never disappoint or skim on your delivery and clarity, thank you! I'm glad I understood your points as well as slightly amused that I didn't do enough thorough reading to be sure in my head what was what before making moves.
One slight redemption from my haste is that I agree with you SBD does seem more price stable than most other cryptos, however pinned on USD seems fragile in the long run and eventually obsolete since why wouldn't we all simply use STEEM? After our discussion however I feel like holding in SBD doesn't serve me in anyway, I get in the early days when no one knew what the hell Steemit was so they needed some sort of security. But obviously that's another matter and I don't know enough about it to know what other purposes it serves.
As for now and me, I'll be watching for that "story" and see if I can recognize a second STEEM dip before buying more as I learned from your post. Today's $1.06 looks great and so tempting as is, I'm excited to be watching the charts with a deeper innerstanding of the behaviors now. Either ways I won't be loading up all at once, I still have my learner wheels on. The SBD I'm holding can sit until it swings back to a better price, at least above the peg again.
We use BTC mainly as a store of value. We don't trust fiat, can't even move it around easily since we're fairly nomadic these days and as an investment it has been great to us. Verging on BTC loyalists here lol, anyway we still receive fiat from our affiliates so I will be moving that over here to STEEM. It's only our second alt-coin interest but we've stubbornly learned that diversity surely is the key! I love steemit and I am so very thankful to meet people like you who are in my eyes taking on a great role as educators and stewards of not only the platform but the trading/investing aspects that so many of us have no clue about.
Ok going on again now man, not even made time for my post this morning. What with all the reading and replying haha! It's all good, this learning is worth far more than my current $1-2SBDs per post. Thanks again brother, will be chatting again soon no doubt!
Wholeness.
just to clarify one thing though, that's the point of SBD. For now, in the "real" world, the USD is still king (ie. the reserve currency). And SBD is basically crypto fiat USD, easily transferable in the blink of an eye!
The USD is not going away any time soon, and certainly not before other fiats "topple" first (ie. japan and the EU). And while some of that money will inevitably end up in the crypto space, the BIG money will most likely end up in the safety of the highest quality USD-denominated corporate stocks and bonds (NOT government bonds). But all this is probably much more than you were asking for! lol
btw, STEEM's actually now fallen slightly below $1 USD again.
Right, yeah I noticed a few mistakes in my wording above. It was super late and I'm still getting it and re-reading slowly lol. SBD stability against USD makes much more sense now. Oh and yeah had some orders in and bought got STEEM in my sleep :)