It is tempting to buy dips. Even when those dips are in the context of a bearish drop. This is Dollar Cost Averaging and it goes against the grain of what I would do. Why? Because losses can get larger and larger as the stock or fund drops. Months later or perhaps years later it may rise and get you out of trouble. In the case of some stocks, that might never happen. Some people have that patience and consider that long term investing.
Why not invest and go long when the market tells you people are buying and the fund is going up instead? Is that so hard to do if you use good technicals? I don’t think so.
Case in point is the India Fund IIF. I recall my friends buying into IIF when it was in the 20s and had a bearish signal. The response at the time was it had dropped 15-20% over 3-4 weeks and it seemed like a good time to buy since no one can tell when there is a bottom. No. I think it is better to buy when there is a technical Buy signal supporting the decision. Sometimes those buy signals can be short lived in which case it is better to get out on a sell or exit signal. IIF is now at 14.85. It has been dropping continuously for the last few weeks. Time to buy? Sure for contrarian investors. It might be a good oversold period and a bounce is likely but that is too risky for me. I work too hard to grow my money. I would rather buy when I get a Buy signal. A contrarian I am not. And if I did buy now, I would do it with options to keep my risks limited.
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