What's Happening? Is something wrong?!?!
Keep calm...nothing is wrong. While I understand the concern..it's really quite normal.
Ok, so now that you've calmed down a bit (I hope) lets cover a bit of what is going on with your post payouts. When we're done, you'll start letting things like this just roll off you without any stress.
Q: Am I being flagged or something?
This is always the first thought people have when they see their post payouts going down. While it's possible (you can find out if this is the case in THIS POST, 99.99% of the time flags have nothing to do with it.
Q: Sooo...what's going on then? Why are my payouts going down?
Let's first back up just a little bit. You see, each day there is new Steem being printed and placed into a reward pool for post and comment authors. (This is where the so-called money comes from.) This fixed amount is then given away and who proportionally gets what is determined by votes. Those with more Steem Power thus has more effect.
Effect of Steem and Bitcoin price compared to the US Dollar
The BIGGEST reason is because the price of Steem fell about 20% in the last day or so (along with most crypto.) It's already bounced back about half of that!
So why does any of this matter?
You see, what you are ACTUALLY receiving is STEEM...NOT DOLLARS! That dollar amount you are seeing is based off the current price of Steem, relative to Bitcoin, relative to the US dollar. So if the price of Steem goes down, or the price of Bitcoin goes down...that Steem that was distributed to you is worth less. Even though you technically have the SAME AMOUNT OF STEEM.
So don't panic, this really is normal. Just as often your payouts go UP when the Steem (and Bitcoin) price rises. However, nobody really thinks anything of this outside of GOODY!! These ups and downs balance out over time.
Q: Wait a minute..you just said the price has gone back up somewhat..yet I'm not seeing my payout rise.
Our payouts don't look at the instantaneous price of Steem, instead it uses a 3.5 day AVERAGE price. So this means that the more recent gains represent a small portion of this 3.5 day average. The recent gains just aren't strongly reflecting yet since it's been a short period of time.
As long as the Steem price stays here (or ideally keeps going up) you'll slowly see your post payouts rise again too.
Q: Is there anything else that makes my payout change?
Like I mentioned above...votes really aren't giving money directly...instead it's distributing portions of the daily reward pool. After you post earned some money however, people STILL KEEP VOTING. So those votes that allotted you the earnings, become smaller compared to ALL the votes cast. While this usually isn't as drastic an effect of say a 20% dip in Steem price, you will likely see this happen.
Remember that ALL of my guide posts are eligible to be added as entries to the Steem Center Wiki or Operation Translation.
Click here to find out how these can earn you Steem!!
Feel free to ask me anything. I'm here to Help!
Previous Helpful Posts for Newbies
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Image Sources:
Money Down the Drain
Don't Panic
Oh yeah I forgot about the 3 day average. Does it really go with the flow of bitcoin? That is very interesting this is the first time ive heard that but it makes sense.The whole post thing going down thing is kind of a bummer but not really this is a great place anyways. Just the chance of getting content out to a new audience is rad.
There isn't a direct exchange between Steem and the US dollar. So we have to use Bitcoin to make that happen. Essentially there is the rate between Steem and Bitcoin (currently showing 0.00073461 BTC on coinmarketcap.com) and then the current rate of Btc to USD (currently showing at $2573.51 per btc).
So if BTC value drops while the Steem/BTC stays the same...well still feel some of the effects on our payouts. However, I look forward to the day that Steem can be directly traded to the US dollar!
The dips happen..the upside for it though is that for those looking..it can be a good time to buy the steem up. :)
Totally!! It's all just bonus to me! :D
How is that true though? I understand its not actually linked to USD but how is it linked to BTC completely? Isnt ethereum and LTC a way to cash out to fiat also? Wouldn't it go with their prices also?
Thank you @sykochia for the informative post. I have been witnessing the same cowering downward trend to my posts as well over the last week. Its an up and down game here in the crypto world, but I still feel lucky as hell to have found this great place.
PS: I really like how you split up your pages using the cool graphic line, I might have to borrow that idea from you on some of my posts is that ok?
Oh definitely, this place is awesome! Making any money from paying nothing rocks.
Yeah, feel free to use the page dividers on your posts! I like sharing most of my formatting secrets. 😀
Great explanation about this fact. Thank you very much. In fact, many friends are constantly asking for this situation. Have a nice day!
I agree
Another fantastic article for new comers to better understand the economy they are now a part of.
I still always check for downvotes though 😉
Thank you! You Are always real helpful. Do you know if steemdollar.com is useful for deciding whether to choose 50/50 or 100% sp payout?
Umm, to a degree. The more that steem dollars are valued more than $1 usd, the more you want to do 50/50.
This is because steemit is paying this portion out as if it were worth a dollar, versus the $1.50 to $2 it's been around lately.
So you actually make more by getting paid in steem dollars and selling them. You can then just buy more steem than you would've gotten had you chosen 100% power up.😀
Does this mean conversely when/if Steem dollars drop down below a dollar it would make sense to switch to 100% power up?
Exactly😀
if there was a "sticky post" option of steemit...this would be it (or one of a few)
upvoted, resteemed, and followed
Wanted to write about this but you did 1000 times better as I could! :D Upped and re-steemed for more visibility. They are a lot of newbies wondering whats happening :)
That explains why my posts that were at $0.02 are now at $0.01 :D
Thank you for this explanation. It makes sense. Now I can get on to reading some of your other fantastic posts. The information you provide is so helpful to us new to Steemit
Helpful information Thanks for the help. Also for the other links
very timely posted! kudos!
though this time I was s-m-r-t enough to figure that out myself... a lot of fresh steemians might be puzzled about it.
Informative post good keep sharing
thanks for sharing @sykochica i always follow and read ur post ^_^
I actually wasn't really aware of the 3.5 day average! Thanks for letting us know! You da best.
This is exactly what I was looking for !
Thank you for your time, the simplicity in making me / us understand how it works. You have true talent & a kind heart!
you're awesome. thanks sykochica :)
thanks for the explanation. Now it totally makes sense )
Thank you @sykochica. You answered all questions that have been bothering me for the past days.
Thanks for sharing this, many people are asking this question, especially new users.
It's amazing, I follow your writing, interrelated and related to the previous writing that you wrote, really you are a very professional writer. Even though I have been going to follow and read everything you write, for me this is a very useful science. Thank you very much.
this post not only give you upvotes but also this big post will give you blessings and wishes of people because by this posts so of many people will understand the reason of lost of payouts , God bless you dear and thanks for this brilliant work
Thanks a mil for the info - really helpful :)
It's really a good explanation to all people especially newbies who got panicked as soon as their payouts value decreases. Steemit is really good paltform but also the most volatile one obviously because of bitcoin price volatility.
So people should keep calm and first understand how Steemit works.
Great information @skyochica. I love how you style your posts.
Thank you! Very helpful, very articulate!!!
Great explanation - resteemed especially for my friends who are new to the platform. Thanks, @sykochica!
Thank you. I now understand the payout system. I'll be looking into some of tour other posts for help.
Thanks for your guide! It's very helpful
I read your blog. And learn. good advice.
Thank you for this info... i was really at that point you described, wondering why my payouts were dropping down so much, starting with 18 and slowly losing value as the hours passed by; well, still can't do anything about it, but at least i know :) let's see if any of my posts recover from loss before the week is over :P
More great explanations! Thank you!
Lovely and very good info in
this post You guys People like
you make steem Big place to
be :) Thank you very much SteemOn
So may I know how steemit generate money to give to us?
This is clearly one strong post :)
great information
I am going to tell my wife to read this. I was trying to explain this to her last night. Thank you for this excellent post.
Thank you for the explanation, is good to know all is correct
This post not only gives you upvotes but also this great post will give you blessings and wishes of people because with this writing many people will understand the reason for lost payment, steemit community do not forget comments, upvoting, replies, and follow me @jakir
@sykochica, that was a very nice explanation. One of my blog's payout reduced from $440 to somewhere around $280 now in a matter of 3 or 4 days. At this rate I was wondering perhaps I may have to pay some money to steemit at the end of 7 days!!!. Just kidding.
I am happy and privileged to be receiving anything at all for my blogs n photos which receive only'likes' in FB. Even a single $ earned is a blessing. I can live with that.
Having said that I was curious why this decline was happening in the first place. @firepower explained me a bit just a while ago and now I see your blog. I bet you can read other new bloggers mind 😊. So sweet.
Thanks a lot for your time and effort. Keep up the good work. Let more goodies ... learning come from your end. God bless !!
Thank you for the clear explanation.
Is this a new thing though? I don't remember witnessing this a week ago. Or maybe the STEEM price was more stable then
Great explanation.
How was the quantity of steem in the pool determined immediately after the fork? Did it reset or did in continue with the pool size from before the fork (HF19)?
If it reset, that would also help to explain why the potential payouts were so large immediately after it happened.
Technically the reward pool runs off a thirty day average vs daily (I just didn't want to add that complexity into the FAQ). This latest hf, the pool was not reset, thankfully, since that would've needed a month to refill like it did for hd 17/18.
What happened to raise the payouts was that all the votes that had already been cast carried far more wait after the change, even though we had 40 votes a day at the time. So every vote applied more "money".
Posts made after the hf were than rather back to normal since there were less votes to go around and many peoples vote power dropped due to votes costing more power.
At least, this is my best guess on that.
Thanks for all this information.
Thanks for that great explanation @sykochica! :D I really was shocked when i saw my payouts today. I nearly thought something went wrong, becaise i did not see any downvote. Your post calmed me down ;)
Thanks for explaining that. It really calmed me down. lol
good writeup
Thank you!
I love your crypto analysis posts btw!
I noticed this over the past week, then looked at the market value of Steem and figured it likely had something to do with it. Also stumbled across steem.supply, it's interesting to see how voting strength fluctuates over time and how that's another factor that comes into play. Great explanation though! The 3.5 day average helps to make sense as to why it fluctuates with price but not immediately.
I wonder whether in the long run we shouldn't be moving towards showing earnings in steem and steem dollars, and no longer mentioning the dollar value.