Best time to trade

Those looking at the stock market amid a steep decline may think it is not a good time to start investing. Conversely, if you are looking at it when stocks are rallying, you might think it is a good time.

The realilty is that neither time is necessarily good or bad. No one is able to predict with certainty which way the stock market will move at any given time although history has show that over the long term, the stock market has always moved higher.

Bear and bull markets

Every bear market i.e. when stock prices decline for a period of time, is followed by a bull market i.e. when stock prices rise. Historically, bull markets have lasted much longer than bear markets and the gains of bull markets have more than offset the losses in bear markets.