Editor's note: When major volatility approaches, your best strategy is to be prepared...
And Marc Chaikin, founder of our corporate affiliate Chaikin Analytics, says we're close to a "hurricane season" for stocks today. When it arrives, the conditions for a bear market are highly likely to come with it.
In today's Masters Series, originally from the March 23 issue of the free Chaikin PowerFeed e-letter, Marc explains how "sector rotations" work and what they mean for your wealth...
Get Ready for the Investing 'Hurricane' on March 31
By Marc Chaikin, founder, Chaikin Analytics
We're near a financial "line in the sand" moment for millions of Americans...
In fact, I believe it comes down to a specific date – March 31.
The people who move their money on that day will both make and save more money in 2026 than 99% of average investors.
Think of it like hurricane season...
That's a defined window of time when environmental conditions become unusually favorable for hurricanes.
Have hurricanes formed outside of this season?
Sure.
But if you're looking for a historically high likelihood of a big storm forming, you'll find it inside this specific window of time. That's based on careful scientific study and modeling.
On March 31, the U.S. stock market will enter its own "hurricane season."
That's a window of time when conditions are unusually favorable for bear markets. And like the study behind hurricanes, this window is based on 75 years of market history.
During this period, things can go from bad to worse for the average investor.
Warnings and worries about the fate of the U.S. stock market have flooded the mainstream media for months. A lot of people fear a devastating market-wide crash.
But when you zoom in a bit, what's really shifting beneath the surface of the market becomes much clearer...
You see, some sectors have suffered since the year began – specifically, a lot of tech stocks.
And of course, the S&P 500 Index has bounced back and forth as well.
At the same time, other sectors have been quietly going straight up. The sector-tracking exchange-traded fund for energy, for example, is up around 38% so far this year.
In the investing world, we have a term for this type of action...
Sector rotation.
Now that I've pointed it out to you, you'll start to see it everywhere.
Sector rotation like we're seeing today is our signal. It helps us see that the U.S. stock market is undergoing a fundamental shift.
Money is rotating out of previously winning sectors. And it's going into new sectors.
At this stage, it's impossible to know just how far the broad market could fall. But what we do know is that whatever the total loss turns out to be...
Average investors are almost guaranteed to lose more.
If you've invested for more than a year or two, you've likely experienced this for yourself...
For example, the last bear market, in 2022, will go down in history as an average one.
The S&P 500 "only" fell as much as 24% from its peak. And the index quickly began to recover in the fourth quarter. It ended the year down around 18%.
But for the average investor, it was anything but mild...
When the 2022 bear market was at its worst, the average investor wasn't down 24%. Rather, data from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) analysts at the time shows the average investor was dealing with a loss of 44%.
That's a lot of pain. It's almost half their wealth.
Even as conditions began to improve, the average investor still faced a massive loss. The average investor ended that year down an estimated 21%.
That's not a "mild" market decline in my book.
It's one-fifth of your retirement.
This kind of loss requires you to have a serious conversation with your spouse and family.
It's the kind of loss I've built an entire system to protect people from suffering.
The latest violent shift in the market is already underway. And as I've shown you today, it could get far worse for everyday Americans before it gets better.
Good investing,
Marc Chaikin
Editor's note: Marc has called several major market declines before stocks crashed. Now, he's warning investors about another collapse.
This "Bear Market Window" has the potential to result in some of the greatest losses we've seen in years. But it's not too late...
Marc is showing how you can position yourself to weather the storm and even double your portfolio. But you need to act before March 31. Learn how to prepare yourself and safeguard your wealth here.
