{"id":23387,"date":"2025-03-05T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/?p=23387"},"modified":"2025-08-22T07:32:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T11:32:55","slug":"hold-your-nose-and-buy-stocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/hold-your-nose-and-buy-stocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Hold Your Nose and Buy Stocks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hold your nose and buy.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn&rsquo;t happen often. But, whenever the major market indexes decline towards their 200 day moving averages during a bull market, it pays to be a buyer of stocks.<\/p>\n<p>Look at these long-term charts of SPY and QQQ &ndash; the exchange-traded funds for the S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq 100&hellip;<\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"312\" src=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/3.5.25-JMU-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-914369\" style=\"width:900px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/3.5.25-JMU-1.png 700w, https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/3.5.25-JMU-1-300x134.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"312\" src=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/3.5.25-JMU-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-914372\" style=\"width:900px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/3.5.25-JMU-2.png 700w, https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/3.5.25-JMU-2-300x134.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Since the current bull market started in early 2023, SPY has tested the support of its 200-day moving average (<a class=\"ipm-ticker-link\" href=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/cryptocurrency\/ma\/\"><strong>MA<\/strong><\/a>) on two previous occasions.<\/p>\n<p>QQQ has tested the 200-day MA three times.<\/p>\n<p>Each test was successful. Each test led to an immediate rally. And, each test ultimately proved to be an excellent buying opportunity for investors.<\/p>\n<p>Granted, it is difficult to be a buyer of stocks when it appears that the markets are falling apart. As we\u2019ve seen time and again, though, that is often the best time to buy.<\/p>\n<p>The caveat here is that the tests of the 200-day MA are only successful in a bull market. At the start of a bear market \u2013 like in early 2022 \u2013 the indexes sliced right through their 200-day moving average lines, and are sharply lower months later.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Risk\/Reward Setup\u2026<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, we can only know if a test of the 200-day MA is successful in hindsight, after the fact. There\u2019s no way to know ahead of time.<\/p>\n<p>So, there is some risk to buying stocks right here.<\/p>\n<p>The saving grace, however, is stocks don\u2019t go down (or up) in a straight line. Technical conditions are often quite oversold by the time the indexes test their 200-day MAs.<\/p>\n<p>Even if the test fails, the indexes are set up for an oversold bounce back towards their 200-day moving averages \u2013 if only to relieve the oversold conditions before turning lower again.<\/p>\n<p>For example, consider what happened in early 2022, at the start of that bear market. Investors who bought SPY at $425, or QQQ at $360 as they tested their 200-day MAs, suffered initially as the indexes lost support.<\/p>\n<p>But, it didn\u2019t take long before the indexes put on an oversold bounce \u2013 where investors could have exited the trades near breakeven before a more significant decline took hold.<\/p>\n<p>Both SPY and QQQ closed Monday near their 200-day moving averages. If we\u2019re still in a bull market, then this will prove to be an outstanding time to buy stocks.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, if we\u2019re at the start of a bear market, then investors who buy right here might have to endure some short-term pain before they get an oversold bounce that allows them to exit the trades at near breakeven.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the risk\/reward setup to buying into the current conditions is excellent.<\/p>\n<p>Best regards and good trading,<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"max-width: 200px; width: 100%;\" src=\"https:\/\/files.jeffclarktrader.com\/global\/signatures\/jeff-clark-signature.png\" alt=\"Signature\" width=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Jeff Clark<br \/>Editor, <em>Market Minute<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"card card-body bg-light mb-4 mt-4\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Free Trading Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Have you checked out Jeff\u2019s free trading resources on his website? It contains a selection of special reports, training videos, and a full trading glossary to help kickstart your trading career \u2013 at zero cost to you. Just <a href=\"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a> to check it out.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The risk\/reward setup for buying into the current conditions is excellent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"0","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"service":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"publication":[10],"person":[7],"newsletter-type":[],"ticker":[],"class_list":["post-23387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-minute","publication-market-minute","person-jeff-clark"],"acf":[],"ai_tts_audio_outdated":false,"ai_tts_legacy_post":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23387"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24953,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23387\/revisions\/24953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23387"},{"taxonomy":"publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication?post=23387"},{"taxonomy":"person","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person?post=23387"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-type?post=23387"},{"taxonomy":"ticker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jeffclarktrader.com\/market-minute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ticker?post=23387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}