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When to enter the trade

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Our Q&As are emailed in our Saturday Morning Report, find the answer to this question below.

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Question asked 19/09/2025

When to enter the trade

Hi Team, When you post that you like a stock you seem to mostly say you like it at some price below the current price. Sometimes this price is not far away from the current price so I wonder why you just don't buy as I am sure you are buying stocks that you believe are going to go up more than just a few percent? Then you could miss out all together. So how do you select this price to enter? Is it based on numbers, charts or just a gut feel? Thanks for your efforts Regards, Ray.

Answer

Hi Ray,

A good question, one that a number of subscribers may have indeed pondered, especially when we have at times trotted out one of Shawns personal saying:

“By limiting your price, you will always get set when you’re wrong BUT not when you are right!”.

However, we have to also take into account that MM run real, as opposed to theoretical, portfolios – everything is easy in theory! Hence during periods when we have low cash levels MM can be particularly pedantic. Conversely, when we have elevated cash levels which is the case today in our Active Growth and Emerging Companies Portfolios, we are more likely to scale into positions wanting to put our money back to work.

The trigger to actually press the “Buy Button” is a combination of value, technicals, plus our underlying view of the respective sector and market.

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