Yes, the steem dollars are what I referred to as SBD... And they are worth far more than the $4 they show.
Since you want to stay long term, then you should do the following
go to the drop down box in the upper right and choose "currency market" and open it up
when it opens up, you will see a box on the left that is highlighted in green (under the graph) called "Buy Steem" (this is what you want to do)
you will then see that there is a price already listed in the box that says price (that is the rate of conversion). Until you know more about how to trade, I would suggest you just leave that number already in there and go to the step 4
Go to the 3RD box titled "total" and enter the amount of your SBD which I'm showing is 4.161 (note you can confirm this number by looking right underneath it and it will tell you your SBD balance in little numbers called "availability".
Once you input the amount of SBD you have then the machine will calculate exactly how many STEEM you will get at that price. It should be just a bit over 14 STEEM and it will do it for you.
If it is right, then hit the BUY STEEM Button and follow the directions to validate yourself and confirm the trade.
Once that is done you should have a live order to sell your SBDs to buy STEEM. And you wait for your order to process. Sometimes it is fast, sometimes you have to change the order, but for today just enter it and wait.
Once the trade is completed then you must do ONE MORE STEP... And that is to turn your newly purchased STEEM into STEEM POWER. To do that all you have to do is follow the easiest step #9
Go to your wallet and you will see that you have 0 SBD and the 14ish STEEM... Go to the STEEM and click on the little arrow to the right and click on "Power Up"... It will then ask you to put the amount that want to power up (which you should do the whole 14.xxx amount and it will covert it to STEEM POWER.
You are done at this point and you will see your value of your account rise from about $13 to roughly $50.
If you have any problems, just let me know... But that should be what you need to make this transaction.
There are no fees charged to do any of this. The only negative to you is that your STEEM POWER is not liquid and will require you to wait over time to withdraw it if you need it.
Good luck and again if you need any help, let me know.
Thank you Dave
Your instructions worked perfectly!
That was fun!
I'm glad they did... thanks for letting me know.
And yes, I figured you'd enjoy it a little more once you did that step. ;)
You're voting power will now slowly increase as you get more STEEM POWER. Be patient, this platform is really well designed in tons of aspects.
Happy new year @rossfletcher!
Thanks again! It was really helpful and yes i enjoyed it quite a bit - actually doing a bit of crypto buying if that's what i should call it.
yep.. you definitely own some crypto now :)