As a new steemian I was testing all the features that the system has to offer. Literally 1 day before the spike, being 6 days old or so to the platform, I used the convert to steem option. I knew this was a bad idea from the get go, but I wanted to try all the features. Figured why not. Then the next day price sky rockets. I wrote about it here last night. It shows the difference in returns and boy is it a difference. While I had already read not to do this, I wanted to utilize the feature to understand from experience.
It also leads me to one question: When is/will the convert to steem option EVER be a good/smart idea? That is one question I can't seem to find and answer to.
In any scenario/situation that I try to think about, in every case, waiting the 3.5 days is never desirable unless there was no sell orders in the internal market and you are desperate in-which case you still have to wait 3 days.
Yeah, no one want's to lock up their funds 3 days on steemit with the market available to trade instantly, so that Convert to Steem option is useless. This isn't the bank where we're all in a financial straight-jacket getting interrogated and waiting for them to let us, MAYBE, do what we want with our money.
Most likely it's there for legacy reasons from the beginning of the platform. Just like the auto-upvote yourself check box is outdated but still there. [the "I love me" checkbox!]
I actually thought to myself that the convert to steem option might be a legacy option. It makes sense
"Any time SBD is over 1$ you should sell on the internal. Any time it is under 1USD you should use convert".
So if sbd is under 1$ it is fine to use convert, but as you say the orice could jump during conversion. I guess it's just a button for lazy people or those who don't want to learn how to use the market!
The 3day wait time locks up the price and the SBD, so not a good idea to use it at all. The market can move during 3.5day period and that isn't fun with larger amounts.