All-Time Highs Are a Great Time to Buy

I met a kindred spirit last month...

I was in Las Vegas for the annual Stansberry Research Conference & Alliance Meeting. I shared my insights on October 20. The next day, JC Parets of TrendLabs took the stage.

"Don't try to buy low and sell high," he told the crowd. "You want to buy high and sell higher."

That's a sentence you won't often hear in the investment world. But for anyone who has actually studied history, it's a no-brainer. And JC has studied history...

You see, he's a technical analyst. And the technicals are all about history... and how what's happening today mirrors the past.

JC proudly admits that he knows nothing about the fundamentals of what he buys. Instead, he focuses on buying assets that are rising... because rising prices tend to keep rising.

Granted, I embrace the fundamentals a bit more. But when you get down to it, fundamentals don't matter if the trend is working against you. That's why momentum is always my top priority.

This concept is crucial to understand today...

Stocks keep hitting new all-time highs. And I've noticed that all this winning is beginning to spook investors.

But as I'll explain, it shouldn't... because all-time highs are a great time to buy...

Stop Looking for a Reason to Sell

Investors are always looking for a reason to sell. And ironically, nothing scares folks more than a major rally.

Yes, we're all here to make money. But somehow, doing so scares folks into thinking the good times are over. And new all-time highs kick this fear into overdrive.

Investors are deathly afraid of putting money to work right as stocks peak... and suffering terrible long-term losses as a result.

Investor fear has ticked higher lately for this exact reason. For example, CNN's Fear and Greed Index was firmly in the "fear" zone for most of October.

This fear is at least partially due to the S&P 500 Index hitting new all-time highs in recent weeks. We've now seen the market close at a new all-time high more than 30 times in 2025. Take a look...

We're in the middle of a powerful long-term bull market. But no, you shouldn't assume things are due to end just because prices are rising...

You should assume the exact opposite.

To see it, I looked at nearly 100 years of history for the S&P 500. I tested what happened after each unique all-time high over that period.

And for comparison, I also tested what happened after unique 52-week lows. This way, we can test whether you should "buy low, sell high"... or "buy high, sell higher."

The winner is clear. Take a look...

Bottom fishing might sound like a good idea. You'll look like a genius if you can buy a stock that has been crashing right near its bottom. But that ideal situation rarely works.

Instead, you really want to "buy high, sell higher."

Since 1928, the S&P 500 has grown 6% per year. But you could have outperformed slightly if you had only bought at all-time highs. That approach led to a typical one-year return of 6.3%.

This isn't massive outperformance. But it shows that buying at all-time highs isn't risky. What's risky is buying stocks when they're down...

If you only bought at 52-week lows, your typical annual return would have fallen to 2.5%. That's less than half of a typical "buy and hold" strategy.

This isn't an exhaustive study. It's a simple set of numbers that shows our market intuitions aren't always correct.

In short, JC is right... We want to stick with the trend and "buy high, sell higher."

And that means we want to own stocks right now.

Good investing,

Brett Eversole