Editor’s Note: In today’s article, Chief Trends Strategist Matthew Carr shares the correlation between consumer spending and seasonal trading – because at the end of the day, our economy thrives on consumption.
But demand shifts throughout the year, which is what makes seasonal options trading so powerful.
The options market is one of the most misunderstood areas of investing. But those who know how to play the game correctly have seen impressive gains…
In fact, Matthew has used options to deliver a 1,017% return in less than six months!
If you want to learn all about his options approach, you can view more details here.
– Madeline St.Clair, Assistant Managing Editor
A couple of decades ago, I uncovered a strategy that completely changed my life.
It changed the way I look at the markets.
It changed the way I look at and analyze stocks.
It was an eye-opening moment that improved my returns and removed all the guesswork from investing.
It is so powerful that, to this day, every company I recommend to subscribers is filtered through this lens.
And I tell every investor I talk to – the ones who ask me what the best trading or investment strategy is – to do the same.
A Strategy for All Seasons
Seasonal trading has long been brushed aside as random or a market anomaly.
Mainstream financial talking heads and columnists love to try to poke holes in our strategies and ideas.
This is despite the decades and decades of research and real-world work by guys like Yale Hirsch, Jeffrey Hirsch, Norman Fosback, Dick Stoken, Peter Eliades, Jay Kaeppel, me and others.
Personally, I feel we’ve collectively more than proven our various approaches are viable time and time again.
But it seems to never be enough.
As Kaeppel wrote, “If 100-plus years of strong performance are not enough to convince you that a given method or trend is viable, then you are awfully tough to please.”
Unfortunately, a lot of investors are exactly that.
Seasonal and trend traders have long been the Rodney Dangerfields of the investing world. (“We don’t get no respect.“) Even though we often outperform the market by a wide margin.
The reality is our economy thrives on consumer spending. And what consumers demand shifts throughout the year.
Winter coats are on sale right now, while bikinis are selling at a premium. That’s not a coincidence or random. It’s a fact of nature.
But using this to our advantage can help us score the biggest gains.
The Strategies You Love to Hate
Over the years, I’ve written that every industry has a season.
Well, at the same time, there are countless articles on the most famous – though most widely misunderstood – seasonal trading strategy: “Sell in May and go away.”
On the surface, it seems simple enough. And it rhymes – which means it must have some sort of merit, right? In fact, the whole adage is “Sell in May and go away. Don’t come back till Labor Day.”
I mean, that’s poetry.
But here’s the important question… Sell what?
Everything?
Just dump your entire portfolio and sit in cash every May?
That seems like an exceptionally stupid idea and awfully damaging to your financial future. And any person who blindly promotes the “sell in May” strategy is doing more harm than good.
Now, the reality is, the “sell in May” strategy applies to only a handful of sectors… not the entire universe of stocks and mutual funds.
But its catchiness turned it into an earworm that’s been mindlessly parroted for decades.
Follow the Money
The success of seasonal trading is built on optimizing time and efforts.
That’s why my strategy and investing philosophy are built on a basic premise: Shares of most companies move asymmetrically.
That means, within a given year, there are blocks of months when shares will perform well – sometimes even exceptionally well. And there are other months when they won’t.
It’s not random. And it’s not an anomaly.
Because it’s usually the same months each and every year.
And more often than not, that relates back to the company’s underlying business, revenue and earnings.
Most businesses are cyclical or seasonal. And in seasonal trading, you want to focus on these booming quarters and forget the rest.
That’s how we can consistently score big while limiting our downside risk. And it’s why my seasonal options trading strategy sees returns so much higher than any other strategy.
I’ve been an avid disciple of seasonal trading for nearly my entire career. And it’s this approach that I can credit for all the portfolio awards I’ve received and records I’ve set.
I believe every investor who applies a seasonal approach to their trading will improve their returns and simply become a better trader.
Here’s to high returns,
Matthew