Nine lessons before you trade.

The phrase is misleading. Nobody reliably finds the bottom, so the useful question is what you would do differently at a lower price — and whether you would still hold it there.

What to take from this step

• Time spent holding a diversified position has mattered more than the exact entry day for most long-term investors.
• A buy price is only meaningful next to a planned exit price. Without one, every move feels urgent.
• Buying in equal amounts on a schedule (dollar-cost averaging) spreads your entry across many prices instead of betting on one.
• Missing the market's few best days hurts more than missing its worst days, which is why sitting in cash “to wait for a dip” often backfires.

Try it on this site

Open any stock on the home page and choose “All available history”. Notice how few of the years in that line did most of the work.

A chart that rose for decades is not a promise. Past prices never predict future prices.