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My impression is that sending my BTC into Bitshares and then exchanging it for bitUSD might be a good way to do this

Yes, it surely is. I do this all the time myself. Converting bitUSD back to BTC or any other token when you need is easy.

Though I must ask - how often have you had a margin call? Have you found yourself losing money on bitUSD ever? I'm new, and I want to be careful and know the risks.

Noob here.
Here's what I want to do, and I'd love some advice:

-Currently my BTC is in my Exodus wallet. I want to put it on ice for a while (get it out of the market), but I don't want to sell into fiat (i.e. cash out to USD on Coinbase).
-My impression is that sending my BTC into Bitshares and then exchanging it for bitUSD might be a good way to do this. However:
1) People always warn about leaving your funds on exchanges. Is sending my BTC to Bitshares (as open.BTC, then exchanging it for bitUSD) expose me to similar risks? I'm not clear on the security of SmartCoins and Bitshares when compared to traditional exchanges like Polo/Bitfinex, or compared to a desktop wallet.
2) Will the fees be dramatically lower than selling into fiat via Coinbase?
3) Is there a better way to go about doing what I want?

Again, my main objective is to get my BTC out of the market for a little while, but still have it be easily accessible, and not have to cash it out to fiat.
Thanks for your help!