Steem was riding at .30 - .40 USD before July 4th. Once it went up on Polo for trade it shot up to almost 5 USD. I think it ran into a case over being "over priced" for a while and it's just coming down to a more "rational" value. I believe it will come back up again, but we need to find a use for it outside of Steemit and exchanges. Buying Steem to power up at Steemit so you can get more Steem will only go so far.