Hi maxinpower, you are right.
The SBD was created to be pegged to 1 USD, if you "convert" then the blockchain will give you an amount of STEEM worth in usd. This is the reason why the price of SBD cannot go under 1 USD.
I know that you are disappointed, but there is a problem with the definition of SBD... I think we need to add the possibility to convert from steem to sbd in order to reduce speculation. why, in this way the SBD will be pegged to USD forever and no that speculation to $10 or $15.
But where has this been stated before. If I knew I would use an external exchange.
No point in getting Steem right now
The definition of SBD is in the white paper