Have you ever wondered what the best day is to trade stocks to get the best returns? I had always thought that Mondays were good and Fridays were bad, though I can't remember where I got that and I never really used it anyway (I'm more of a "buy on a dip" sort of guy with any discretionary cash I have laying around). Well, this piece from USA Today answers the question of the "best" day to trade stocks. Here's the bottom line:
While some days may outperform others periodically, there's really nothing to attribute this to, other than chance. And I wouldn't bet my portfolio on that.
In other words, there's no "best" or "worst" day.
This is good news for me as I pay absolutely zero attention to the issue of what day it is when I invest. In fact, most of my investments are on auto-pilot -- money from my work check goes into my checking account and is invested automatically on the 15th and 30th of each month, my 401k is invested automatically on the 30th of each month, etc. -- and, as such, I'm not even aware of what day the actual purchases are made. Which is fine by me. I simply don't have the time to worry about what day it is when I invest. I just keep plowing more and more into index funds and then sit back and watch them grow.
I remember hearing that there is sometimes a dip in stocks at the end of the year as people sell off losers to get capital losses for their taxes. I wonder if there is any effect from people's 401k contributions being credited?
Posted by: Kira | July 17, 2006 at 03:51 PM