Being that unique investor who has the power to consistently time the market and always make a profit is the dream for most people who trade their own accounts.
Indeed, even among those investors who don’t try to consistently time the markets, many think they can still call a top and act opportunistically. It’s at these times when an investor who speculates often sits on the sidelines and looks for better opportunities to put money into the market.
Individual investors who focus their efforts on timing the market typically miss chances. For example, many investors have overlooked chances to benefit from buying the Medical stocks at the first opportunity, by attempting to buy them during a pullback only to see these stocks accomplish new unsurpassed highs: Caladrius Biosciences, Inc. (CLBS), VBI Vaccines, Inc. (VBIV), Repro Med Systems, Inc. (KRMD), ImmuCell Corporation (ICCC), Hanger Inc. (HNGR)
Anxiety and eagerness regularly lead investors into psychological traps because most investors take cues from past market moves and trends instead of attempting to anticipate potential market moves.
Accomplished market timing requires three key components: 1) A dependable sign of when to get in and out of stocks. 2) The capacity to act upon signals quickly and accurately. 3) Have the stomach to act on market signals, no matter how counterintuitive the move may be.
Many investors believe that market timing is a short-term investment strategy. There is a less known, more effective, longer-term market timing approach that has been used successfully by astute investors like Warren Buffet.
Rule 1: Never attempt and time tops and bottoms.
Abandoning the objective to time the tops and bottoms conclusively gives you the flexibility to profit, and extends your chance to benefit from the equity markets over the long-term whether your specific market timing calls are right or wrong.
Rule 2: Don’t sell during minor crashes – instead, have the patience to weather the storm, or even better, milk the opportunity to buy low.
Warren Buffett has made his fortune based off this simple rule. He cautions not to sell during little crashes, and encourages enduring them by concentrating on the long haul.
There is a big difference between a stock market crash and small correction. The theory is that if you like and bought a stock at a previous valuation prior to the correction, you should love the opportunity to this same at a steep discount since the underlying fundamentals are most likely still intact. Warren Buffett takes this idea one step further and often goes on a buying spree when markets turn, essentially buying additional shares of his top stock picks at a big discount and listening to his own advice, ‘Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.’
A Risk Adjusted Trading Strategy Should be Followed for Your Retirement Assets
It’s only human that many succumb to greed and try and game the system by timing the market. But, think about this: Nobel Laureate William Sharpe found in 1975 that a market timer would need to be precise 74% of the time to beat a passive portfolio. Indeed, even a slight outperformance most likely wouldn’t justify the efforts – and given that even the specialists for the most part come up short at it, market timing shouldn’t be your exclusive methodology for investing, particularly when it comes to building your retirement nest egg.
Actively trading for alpha, outsized, short – term gains through market timing and other high – risk trading strategies is fine with a small portion of your investable assets, but for your longer – term retirement assets, a “risk -adjusted focused” investment solution generally makes more sense.
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