Another day, another market fall? Minds would be numb by now. Absorbing all this whipsaw price action is not an option for the investor who wants to compound his wealth by generating alpha returns. There is no other way to lose money or make money in the markets, anyway. Hence, better to understand the game of psychology which is counter intuitive During the COVID based March 2020 market fall, we had no evidence of rapidly spreading virus or the actual effects of the same. The Indian stock markets bottomed out in March 2020 crash, just a couple of days after the self-imposed lock down announced by the PM. And it baffled most investors as the markets rose through the next 6 months when actually the lockdowns continued and economic activity was at much lower-than-normal levels. I remember speaking to Investors/Fund Managers in Sept 2020 and they were advising caution, having not grasped the V shaped recovery and hence not able to judge what happens next. Similar market behaviour was observed again in March 2023, when markets bottomed out when there were no green shoots in sight and recovered with ferocity in April to June 2023 which caught most ‘market timers’ or permanent SIP people (with no research) off guard. Last year as well, markets bottomed out in March 2025 and recovered fast from April to July 2025 when there was global uncertainty of the great trade reset and India’s trade deal was nowhere in sight. The point I am making is either rely on precedents to form an informed view or lose money. Lose money by buying at market tops and not deploying when markets are correcting big. Now, I can quote a cliché ‘Markets tend to climb a wall of worry’ And when markets want to go up, reasons will appear on their own. Anyway, you and I can’t influence those reasons. One thing I know for sure, the earnings growth is getting better with every passing quarter and markets are getting cheaper in valuations with every passing month Those who have followed the strategy of booking profits at overpriced times, would surely have liquidity to deploy now and enjoy the asymmetrical returns over next 12 to 24 months. #investing #alpha #beta