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| Meta Title | Is now a good time to buy stocks, or should I wait? - NerdWallet | |||||||||
| Meta Description | There’s lots of uncertainty nowadays, but that’s never not true — and investors with a long enough time horizon generally come out ahead. | |||||||||
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| Boilerpipe Text | Looking at financial news headlines right now is enough to make anyone feel unnerved. Whether the markets are up or down on a given day, there’s a constant stream of news stories to make you feel worried — or worried about missing out.
As it stands now, it's the fear of continued stock market declines that may be keeping potential investors on the sideline. Since the beginning of the war with Iran on February 28, the S&P 500 has fallen more than 7%. Since its most recent all-time high, the index is down nearly 9%. That puts it a stone's throw away from correction territory, marked by a decline of 10%. And as of late March, the Dow and the Nasdaq already crossed that threshold. That much red could unnerve anyone.
Here’s the thing though: it’s almost never a bad
time to buy stocks — even in today's environment —
so long as you have the discipline and patience to see your investment through.
Long-term investments tend to pay off, but sticking with them is easier said than done sometimes. It’s simple when times are good, but can require nerves of steel at times like this. If you’re thinking about putting some money into stocks right now, you probably have a lot of questions, and we’ve done our best to answer them below.
Is the stock market at a high or a low right now?
The stock market’s highs and lows can only be identified in hindsight, but we can look to history for a sense of where we are in the cycle right now.
The most recent bear market — defined as a period where major stock indexes fall at least 20% from their recent highs — was from late 2021 to late 2022, when the S&P 500 declined about 25% amid fears about high inflation and rising interest rates.
Since then, we have been in a bull market — a period of rising stock prices — although stock prices have been choppy at times.
The S&P 500 got close to re-entering a bear market in early 2025, when new U.S. tariffs (import taxes) spooked investors, but it rebounded shy of the 20% decline threshold. Despite the index's poor performance so far in 2026 and the recent Iran-related volatility, we're still not in a bear market.
The current bull market started about three and a half years ago, in October 2022, and the S&P 500 is still up more than 75% since then. Since 1942, the average bull market has lasted 4.4 years and had a total return of 151.6%
.
Granted, that’s just the average — some bull markets are much longer, and others are much shorter — but it does suggest that stock prices could go higher for a while before the next long-term downturn.
How the S&P 500 is doing this year
Here's how the S&P 500 is performing this year against the closing value of previous years. Also note the long-term averages, which help to bolster the argument that sufficiently long-term investments tend to pay off.
Stock market data may be delayed up to 20 minutes, and is intended solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes.
What are investors nervous about right now?
There’s always some reason to be nervous about the stock market, but 2026 is a period of heightened investor anxiety for several reasons. Here are a couple of major themes:
Oil prices and the Iran war
This is the most recent and most influential force pushing stocks down right now. Military action against Iran has effectively closed the Straight of Hormuz, a small waterway crucial for energy exports out of the Middle East. Since February 26, the price of oil has surged more than 50%, from around $70 per barrel to more than $110 per barrel today. An oil shock of this magnitude is rare, and has consequences far more reaching than just prices at the pump.
One forecast from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows the inflation rate rising to 4.2% this year, up from 2.4% today, because of the conflict
.
Tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty
Since Donald Trump returned to office in early 2025, the U.S. has threatened or imposed tariffs on many countries, including its major trading partners. It has also taken military action against Venezuela, and threatened to do so against Denmark over control of Greenland.
The new administration’s apparent willingness to start trade conflicts (and military conflicts) has dimmed the U.S.’s reputation in the eyes of international investors, and raised fears that the world’s largest economy is entering an isolationist phase that could impede the free flow of goods, services, people and money around the world.
These fears have led to a sharp decline in the value of the U.S. dollar over the last year, as well as a movement among investors toward safe-haven assets such as gold.
Overvalued tech stocks and a potential AI bubble
In the early 2020s, very large tech companies such as Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA) dominated the major stock indexes and accounted for much of their increases. Some relative newcomers to the tech industry, such as Tesla (TSLA) and Palantir (PLTR), also ballooned in price in the first half of the decade.
A big factor in the tech-driven rally has been hype about the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), rather than concrete revenue and earnings numbers. This hype has propelled some tech stocks to disproportionately high prices compared to their earnings and revenue, leading some experts to question whether their valuations really make sense, or whether they could be in a bubble.
In December 2025, NerdWallet’s investing newsletter,
The Nerdy Investor
, asked more than a dozen economists about the AI bubble theory. You can read that issue
here
to see what they said.
Timing the market vs. time in the market
When you start investing isn’t as important as how long you stay invested, said Marguerita Cheng, a certified financial planner and CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Gaithersburg, Maryland. And that’s a maxim to remember right now, too.
“The best way to build wealth is to stay invested, but I know that can be challenging,” Cheng said in an email interview.
It’s easier if you invest only for long-term goals. The reason you don't invest money you may need in the next five years is because it’s entirely possible the stock or mutual fund you purchase will drop in value in the short term. If you need those funds for a large purchase or emergency, you may have to sell your investment before it has a chance to bounce back, resulting in a loss.
But if you’re investing for the long term, those short-term drops aren’t of much concern to you. It’s the compounding gains over time that will help you hit your retirement or long-term financial goals. (See how compounding gains work with this
investment calculator
.)
It is possible to invest for shorter-term goals using more conservative investments, such as
bonds
or
fixed-income
investments. These tend to be more resilient against stock market downturns but often rise much less than stocks during bull markets. You can tailor your
asset allocation
— the breakdown of your portfolio between volatile investments such as stocks, and conservative investments such as bonds — to suit different goals with different time horizons.
How long would my account take to recover from a downturn?
According to 2024 data from Invesco and Bloomberg, it has taken an average of three months for the Dow Jones Industrial Average to recover from a 5-10% drop, and an average of eight months to recover from a 10-20% drop
.
You can use our market crash recovery calculator below to estimate how long it would take you to get back to your pre-drop balance after a downturn.
As you can see, even a severe downturn is unlikely to keep you below break-even level for more than five years — so long as you stay the course and keep making modest contributions to your investments consistently.
This is still true if you assume relatively weak returns after the crash, which would be unusual; typically the market rises quite fast in the first couple of years after a downturn.
Where and how should I invest right now?
Here at NerdWallet, we have a lot of opinions about which stock trading platforms are best for different kinds of investors. Here’s a quick summary of some of the best brokers we review, broken down by different investing styles and use cases:
Best for passive, long-term investors: Fidelity
Fidelity frequently wins several of NerdWallet’s
Best-Of Awards
for brokers, such as Best Online Broker for Beginners, due to its wide investment selection, easy-to-use app, and strong customer service support.
Buy-and-hold investors who want index funds — broadly-diversified investment funds that contain hundreds of stocks and just give you the market’s overall rate of return — will likely be pleased with Fidelity’s offerings, which include fractional share purchases (the ability to buy less than one share of a fund, using only a small amount of money) and a proprietary family of completely free index funds that have no sales fees or expense ratios.
Less-tech-savvy investors, however, may be bothered by Fidelity’s high fees for placing orders via phone call. You can read more in our
full Fidelity review
.
Best for active traders and stock pickers: Interactive Brokers
Although financial advisors often say that most people are best off passively investing in index funds, some people prefer to take a more active role in their investments. Stock pickers and advanced traders do have the chance to outperform the major stock market indexes, at least in theory.
If you’re trying to beat the market, you’ll probably want a brokerage account with a wide investment selection, advanced research and trading tools and low fees — and Interactive Brokers checks those boxes. It also offers some of the lowest margin rates (interest rates on loans for investment) of any broker we review.
These are some of the reasons why it has won NerdWallet’s Best Broker for Advanced Traders award and topped our
Best Day Trading Platforms roundup
for several years running.
However, Interactive Brokers is very much geared toward advanced and professional-level investors — beginners and even intermediate investors may want to avoid IBKR, as its platforms can be hard to navigate. See our
full Interactive Brokers review
for more information.
Best for pessimists: Public
Another type of investor worth addressing here is the conservative investor who thinks the stock market is due for a downturn any day now. They might want a brokerage account that makes it easy to keep cash on the sidelines — and earn a decent rate of interest via bonds or high-yield cash accounts — while they wait for that downturn to happen.
Public.com stands out for this use case, thanks to its variety of high-yield cash account options, with yields above 3% at the time of writing, and its Treasury bond offerings.
More technically-skilled pessimists who want to use options to bet against the market will also love Public.com’s options rebate program, which pays
you
a small amount for each option contract traded, depending on your order volume.
That said, Public.com does have some drawbacks — they don’t offer mutual funds, and their market research and customer support capabilities are limited. Check out our
full Public.com review
for the full scoop.
Which stocks should I buy right now?
Most people are better off making consistent investments in index funds, rather than trying to pick stocks.
That said, many traders believe that different industries perform better at different points in the economic cycle of bull and bear markets. Strategies which attempt to follow these trends are known as sector rotation, and there’s no solid consensus about which sector rotation strategies actually work. But here are some common patterns in sector rotation theory:
Stage of economic cycle
Sectors that may outperform
Recession
Consumer staples, health care, utilities
Bull market
Consumer discretionary, industrials, technology, real estate
Peak
Communication services
Bear market
Consumer staples, utilities
Before you try a
sector rotation
strategy, there are a couple of caveats to keep in mind. First, there isn’t universal agreement about which sector rotation strategy is the right one. And second, it’s hard to identify where in the economic cycle we are right now. Typically, it only becomes clear in hindsight.
🤓
Nerdy Tip
Did you know you can practice investing, or "paper trade" with fake money before you risk real cash? Here are the brokerages that offer free
paper trading accounts
.
Brokerage firms
NerdWallet rating
Learn more
on Charles Schwab's website
NerdWallet rating
Learn more
on E*TRADE's website
NerdWallet rating
Learn more
on Vanguard's website
NerdWallet rating
Learn more
on Fidelity's website
The water’s fine, but wade in slowly
One of the best strategies for remaining calm and staying invested during periods of volatility is to treat investment contributions like recurring subscriptions — a technique known as
dollar-cost
averaging
.
Through this approach, you invest a specific dollar amount at regular intervals, say once or twice a month, rather than trying to time the market. In doing so, you’re buying in at various prices that, in theory, average out over time.
Robert M. Wyrick Jr., managing member and chief investment officer of Post Oak Private Wealth Advisors in Houston, notes this is also an excellent strategy for first-time investors looking to enter the market during times of uncertainty.
“It’s very difficult to time when to get into the market, and so there’s no time like the present,” Wyrick says. “I wouldn’t go all-in at once, but I think waiting around to see what happens to the economy or what happens to the market in the next three, six or nine months in most cases ends up being a fool’s errand.” | |||||||||
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# Is now a good time to buy stocks, or should I wait?
There’s lots of uncertainty nowadays, but that’s never not true — and investors with a long enough time horizon generally come out ahead.
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· 10 min read
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Looking at financial news headlines right now is enough to make anyone feel unnerved. Whether the markets are up or down on a given day, there’s a constant stream of news stories to make you feel worried — or worried about missing out.
As it stands now, it's the fear of continued stock market declines that may be keeping potential investors on the sideline. Since the beginning of the war with Iran on February 28, the S\&P 500 has fallen more than 7%. Since its most recent all-time high, the index is down nearly 9%. That puts it a stone's throw away from correction territory, marked by a decline of 10%. And as of late March, the Dow and the Nasdaq already crossed that threshold. That much red could unnerve anyone.
Here’s the thing though: it’s almost never a bad time to buy stocks — even in today's environment — so long as you have the discipline and patience to see your investment through.
Long-term investments tend to pay off, but sticking with them is easier said than done sometimes. It’s simple when times are good, but can require nerves of steel at times like this. If you’re thinking about putting some money into stocks right now, you probably have a lot of questions, and we’ve done our best to answer them below.
## Is the stock market at a high or a low right now?
The stock market’s highs and lows can only be identified in hindsight, but we can look to history for a sense of where we are in the cycle right now.
The most recent bear market — defined as a period where major stock indexes fall at least 20% from their recent highs — was from late 2021 to late 2022, when the S\&P 500 declined about 25% amid fears about high inflation and rising interest rates.
Since then, we have been in a bull market — a period of rising stock prices — although stock prices have been choppy at times.
The S\&P 500 got close to re-entering a bear market in early 2025, when new U.S. tariffs (import taxes) spooked investors, but it rebounded shy of the 20% decline threshold. Despite the index's poor performance so far in 2026 and the recent Iran-related volatility, we're still not in a bear market.
The current bull market started about three and a half years ago, in October 2022, and the S\&P 500 is still up more than 75% since then. Since 1942, the average bull market has lasted 4.4 years and had a total return of 151.6%
\[1\]
First Trust. [History of U.S. Bear & Bull Markets.](https://www.ftportfolios.com/COMMON/CONTENTFILELOADER.ASPX?CONTENTGUID=4ECFA978-D0BB-4924-92C8-628FF9BFE12D) Accessed Feb 5, 2026.
[View all sources](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/should-i-buy-stocks-now#citation-list)
.
Granted, that’s just the average — some bull markets are much longer, and others are much shorter — but it does suggest that stock prices could go higher for a while before the next long-term downturn.
### How the S\&P 500 is doing this year
Here's how the S\&P 500 is performing this year against the closing value of previous years. Also note the long-term averages, which help to bolster the argument that sufficiently long-term investments tend to pay off.
Stock market data may be delayed up to 20 minutes, and is intended solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes.
## What are investors nervous about right now?
There’s always some reason to be nervous about the stock market, but 2026 is a period of heightened investor anxiety for several reasons. Here are a couple of major themes:
### Oil prices and the Iran war
This is the most recent and most influential force pushing stocks down right now. Military action against Iran has effectively closed the Straight of Hormuz, a small waterway crucial for energy exports out of the Middle East. Since February 26, the price of oil has surged more than 50%, from around \$70 per barrel to more than \$110 per barrel today. An oil shock of this magnitude is rare, and has consequences far more reaching than just prices at the pump.
One forecast from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows the inflation rate rising to 4.2% this year, up from 2.4% today, because of the conflict
\[2\]
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. [OECD Economic Outlook, Interim Report March 2026.](https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-economic-outlook-interim-report-march-2026_d4623013-en.html)
[View all sources](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/should-i-buy-stocks-now#citation-list)
.
### Tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty
Since Donald Trump returned to office in early 2025, the U.S. has threatened or imposed tariffs on many countries, including its major trading partners. It has also taken military action against Venezuela, and threatened to do so against Denmark over control of Greenland.
The new administration’s apparent willingness to start trade conflicts (and military conflicts) has dimmed the U.S.’s reputation in the eyes of international investors, and raised fears that the world’s largest economy is entering an isolationist phase that could impede the free flow of goods, services, people and money around the world.
These fears have led to a sharp decline in the value of the U.S. dollar over the last year, as well as a movement among investors toward safe-haven assets such as gold.
### Overvalued tech stocks and a potential AI bubble
In the early 2020s, very large tech companies such as Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA) dominated the major stock indexes and accounted for much of their increases. Some relative newcomers to the tech industry, such as Tesla (TSLA) and Palantir (PLTR), also ballooned in price in the first half of the decade.
A big factor in the tech-driven rally has been hype about the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), rather than concrete revenue and earnings numbers. This hype has propelled some tech stocks to disproportionately high prices compared to their earnings and revenue, leading some experts to question whether their valuations really make sense, or whether they could be in a bubble.
In December 2025, NerdWallet’s investing newsletter, [The Nerdy Investor](https://nerdyinvestor-nerdwallet.beehiiv.com/), asked more than a dozen economists about the AI bubble theory. You can read that issue [here](https://nerdyinvestor-nerdwallet.beehiiv.com/p/are-we-in-an-ai-bubble-heres-what) to see what they said.
## Timing the market vs. time in the market
When you start investing isn’t as important as how long you stay invested, said Marguerita Cheng, a certified financial planner and CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Gaithersburg, Maryland. And that’s a maxim to remember right now, too.
“The best way to build wealth is to stay invested, but I know that can be challenging,” Cheng said in an email interview.
It’s easier if you invest only for long-term goals. The reason you don't invest money you may need in the next five years is because it’s entirely possible the stock or mutual fund you purchase will drop in value in the short term. If you need those funds for a large purchase or emergency, you may have to sell your investment before it has a chance to bounce back, resulting in a loss.
But if you’re investing for the long term, those short-term drops aren’t of much concern to you. It’s the compounding gains over time that will help you hit your retirement or long-term financial goals. (See how compounding gains work with this [investment calculator](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/calculators/investment-calculator).)
It is possible to invest for shorter-term goals using more conservative investments, such as [bonds](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/what-is-a-bond) or [fixed-income](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/fixed-income-investments) investments. These tend to be more resilient against stock market downturns but often rise much less than stocks during bull markets. You can tailor your [asset allocation](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/what-is-asset-allocation) — the breakdown of your portfolio between volatile investments such as stocks, and conservative investments such as bonds — to suit different goals with different time horizons.
» See our picks for the [best brokerage accounts](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/best/online-brokers-for-stock-trading).
## How long would my account take to recover from a downturn?
According to 2024 data from Invesco and Bloomberg, it has taken an average of three months for the Dow Jones Industrial Average to recover from a 5-10% drop, and an average of eight months to recover from a 10-20% drop
\[3\]
Invesco. [What investors need to know about stock market corrections.](https://www.invesco.com/us/en/insights/investors-stock-market-corrections.html) Accessed Mar 10, 2025.
[View all sources](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/should-i-buy-stocks-now#citation-list)
.
You can use our market crash recovery calculator below to estimate how long it would take you to get back to your pre-drop balance after a downturn.
As you can see, even a severe downturn is unlikely to keep you below break-even level for more than five years — so long as you stay the course and keep making modest contributions to your investments consistently.
This is still true if you assume relatively weak returns after the crash, which would be unusual; typically the market rises quite fast in the first couple of years after a downturn.
## Where and how should I invest right now?
Here at NerdWallet, we have a lot of opinions about which stock trading platforms are best for different kinds of investors. Here’s a quick summary of some of the best brokers we review, broken down by different investing styles and use cases:
### Best for passive, long-term investors: Fidelity
Fidelity frequently wins several of NerdWallet’s [Best-Of Awards](https://www.nerdwallet.com/l/awards-investing-2026) for brokers, such as Best Online Broker for Beginners, due to its wide investment selection, easy-to-use app, and strong customer service support.
Buy-and-hold investors who want index funds — broadly-diversified investment funds that contain hundreds of stocks and just give you the market’s overall rate of return — will likely be pleased with Fidelity’s offerings, which include fractional share purchases (the ability to buy less than one share of a fund, using only a small amount of money) and a proprietary family of completely free index funds that have no sales fees or expense ratios.
Less-tech-savvy investors, however, may be bothered by Fidelity’s high fees for placing orders via phone call. You can read more in our [full Fidelity review](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/fidelity).
### Best for active traders and stock pickers: Interactive Brokers
Although financial advisors often say that most people are best off passively investing in index funds, some people prefer to take a more active role in their investments. Stock pickers and advanced traders do have the chance to outperform the major stock market indexes, at least in theory.
If you’re trying to beat the market, you’ll probably want a brokerage account with a wide investment selection, advanced research and trading tools and low fees — and Interactive Brokers checks those boxes. It also offers some of the lowest margin rates (interest rates on loans for investment) of any broker we review.
These are some of the reasons why it has won NerdWallet’s Best Broker for Advanced Traders award and topped our [Best Day Trading Platforms roundup](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/best/online-brokers-platforms-for-day-trading) for several years running.
However, Interactive Brokers is very much geared toward advanced and professional-level investors — beginners and even intermediate investors may want to avoid IBKR, as its platforms can be hard to navigate. See our [full Interactive Brokers review](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/interactive-brokers) for more information.
### Best for pessimists: Public
Another type of investor worth addressing here is the conservative investor who thinks the stock market is due for a downturn any day now. They might want a brokerage account that makes it easy to keep cash on the sidelines — and earn a decent rate of interest via bonds or high-yield cash accounts — while they wait for that downturn to happen.
Public.com stands out for this use case, thanks to its variety of high-yield cash account options, with yields above 3% at the time of writing, and its Treasury bond offerings.
More technically-skilled pessimists who want to use options to bet against the market will also love Public.com’s options rebate program, which pays you a small amount for each option contract traded, depending on your order volume.
That said, Public.com does have some drawbacks — they don’t offer mutual funds, and their market research and customer support capabilities are limited. Check out our [full Public.com review](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/public) for the full scoop.
## Which stocks should I buy right now?
Most people are better off making consistent investments in index funds, rather than trying to pick stocks.
That said, many traders believe that different industries perform better at different points in the economic cycle of bull and bear markets. Strategies which attempt to follow these trends are known as sector rotation, and there’s no solid consensus about which sector rotation strategies actually work. But here are some common patterns in sector rotation theory:
| Stage of economic cycle | Sectors that may outperform |
|---|---|
| Recession | Consumer staples, health care, utilities |
| Bull market | Consumer discretionary, industrials, technology, real estate |
| Peak | Communication services |
| Bear market | Consumer staples, utilities |
Before you try a [sector rotation](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/sector-rotation) strategy, there are a couple of caveats to keep in mind. First, there isn’t universal agreement about which sector rotation strategy is the right one. And second, it’s hard to identify where in the economic cycle we are right now. Typically, it only becomes clear in hindsight.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
Did you know you can practice investing, or "paper trade" with fake money before you risk real cash? Here are the brokerages that offer free [paper trading accounts](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/best/brokers-paper-trading).
| Brokerage firms | |
|---|---|
| [](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61fabd58-44eb-11e8-9c02-fb51e6eec6b5?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=product_image&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) [NerdWallet rating](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/schwab-brokerage "Read review") NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities. [Learn more](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61fabd58-44eb-11e8-9c02-fb51e6eec6b5?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=apply_now_button&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) on Charles Schwab's website | [](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61f673ba-44eb-11e8-9c02-9b9860598c1e?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=product_image&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) [NerdWallet rating](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/etrade "Read review") NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities. [Learn more](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61f673ba-44eb-11e8-9c02-9b9860598c1e?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=apply_now_button&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) on E\*TRADE's website |
| [](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61f78eb2-44eb-11e8-9c02-eb58816e8aeb?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=product_image&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) [NerdWallet rating](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/vanguard "Read review") NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities. [Learn more](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61f78eb2-44eb-11e8-9c02-eb58816e8aeb?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=apply_now_button&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) on Vanguard's website | [](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61ed8d72-44eb-11e8-9c02-53658283ffc3?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=product_image&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) [NerdWallet rating](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/fidelity "Read review") NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors takes into account over 15 factors, including account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support and mobile app capabilities. [Learn more](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61ed8d72-44eb-11e8-9c02-53658283ffc3?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=apply_now_button&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) on Fidelity's website |
## The water’s fine, but wade in slowly
One of the best strategies for remaining calm and staying invested during periods of volatility is to treat investment contributions like recurring subscriptions — a technique known as [dollar-cost](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/dollar-cost-averaging-2) [averaging](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/dollar-cost-averaging-2).
Through this approach, you invest a specific dollar amount at regular intervals, say once or twice a month, rather than trying to time the market. In doing so, you’re buying in at various prices that, in theory, average out over time.
Robert M. Wyrick Jr., managing member and chief investment officer of Post Oak Private Wealth Advisors in Houston, notes this is also an excellent strategy for first-time investors looking to enter the market during times of uncertainty.
“It’s very difficult to time when to get into the market, and so there’s no time like the present,” Wyrick says. “I wouldn’t go all-in at once, but I think waiting around to see what happens to the economy or what happens to the market in the next three, six or nine months in most cases ends up being a fool’s errand.”
» Ready to get started? Browse some of the [best online brokers for beginners](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/best/online-brokers-for-beginners).
Article sources Article sources
NerdWallet writers are subject matter authorities who use primary, trustworthy sources to inform their work, including peer-reviewed studies, government websites, academic research and interviews with industry experts. All content is fact-checked for accuracy, timeliness and relevance. You can learn more about NerdWallet's high standards for journalism by reading our [editorial guidelines.](https://www.nerdwallet.com/l/nerdwallet-editorial-guidelines)
- [1\.](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/should-i-buy-stocks-now#citation-4201607215) First Trust. [History of U.S. Bear & Bull Markets.](https://www.ftportfolios.com/COMMON/CONTENTFILELOADER.ASPX?CONTENTGUID=4ECFA978-D0BB-4924-92C8-628FF9BFE12D) Accessed Feb 5, 2026.
- [2\.](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/should-i-buy-stocks-now#citation-2629700273) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. [OECD Economic Outlook, Interim Report March 2026.](https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-economic-outlook-interim-report-march-2026_d4623013-en.html)
- [3\.](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/should-i-buy-stocks-now#citation-3969090112) Invesco. [What investors need to know about stock market corrections.](https://www.invesco.com/us/en/insights/investors-stock-market-corrections.html) Accessed Mar 10, 2025.
[Back to top]()
About the authors
[](https://www.nerdwallet.com/author/chris-davis)
[Chris Davis](https://www.nerdwallet.com/author/chris-davis) Chris Davis is a Managing Editor on the Investing team. He has covered the stock market, investing strategies, investment accounts and cryptocurrency, and his work has appeared in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, MSN, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Newsday and TheStreet. [See full bio.](https://www.nerdwallet.com/author/chris-davis)
[](https://www.nerdwallet.com/author/sam-taube)
[Sam Taube](https://www.nerdwallet.com/author/sam-taube) Sam Taube writes about investing for NerdWallet. He has covered investing and financial news since earning his economics degree in 2016. [See full bio.](https://www.nerdwallet.com/author/sam-taube)
Helpful resources
[How to Invest in Stocks](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/how-to-invest-in-stocks)
[What Is the Average Stock Market Return?](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/average-stock-market-return)
[How to Make Money in Stocks in 2026: 6 Easy Steps](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/make-money-in-stocks)
[How to sell stock: A 3-step guide for beginners](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/selling-a-stock)
More like this
[Investment Basics](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn)[Investing](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing)[Stocks](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/hubs/stocks)
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California: California Finance Lender loans arranged pursuant to the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation Finance Lenders License \#603L288
NerdWallet has engaged Atomic Invest LLC (“Atomic”), an SEC-registered investment adviser, to bring you the opportunity to open investment advisory accounts (Automated Investing Account and/or Treasury Account) with Atomic. NerdWallet receives compensation of 0% to 0.85% of assets under management annualized, payable monthly, for each referred client who opens an Atomic account and a percentage of free cash interest earned by clients, which creates a conflict of interest. Brokerage services for Atomic are provided by Atomic Brokerage LLC ("Atomic Brokerage"), member of [FINRA](https://www.finra.org/#/)/[SIPC](https://www.sipc.org/) and an affiliate of Atomic, which creates a conflict of interest. See details about Atomic, in their [Form CRS](https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/crs/crs_313255.pdf), [Form ADV Part 2A](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/brochure/313255) and [Privacy Policy](https://legal.atomicvest.com/usa.privacy.de3d0277-78f7-4741-9e9f-755f6b4f03ba.pdf). See details about Atomic Brokerage in their [Form CRS](https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/crs_315263.pdf), [General Disclosures](https://legal.atomicvest.com/usa.broker.disclosures.003464f3-f6bd-41c3-bbdf-7050e50b43a2.pdf), [fee schedule](https://legal.atomicvest.com/usa.broker.schedule.7ea28665-88a9-4542-a748-987e90ea46b6.pdf), and FINRA’s [BrokerCheck](https://brokercheck.finra.org/).
You also can open a Cash Account offered by Atomic Brokerage which allows you to earn interest on your cash through a cash sweep program. [View Important Cash Account Disclosures.](https://www.atomicvest.com/legal/disclosures/7d9c31dd-bf97-46ae-9803-1774b97187af)
Neither Atomic Invest nor Atomic Brokerage, nor any of their affiliates is a bank. Investments in securities: Not FDIC Insured, Not Bank Guaranteed, May Lose Value. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Before investing, consider your investment objectives and the fees and expenses charged.
Images are for illustrative purposes only.
NerdWallet™ \| 4150 N Drinkwater Blvd, Suite 200, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
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| Readable Markdown | Looking at financial news headlines right now is enough to make anyone feel unnerved. Whether the markets are up or down on a given day, there’s a constant stream of news stories to make you feel worried — or worried about missing out.
As it stands now, it's the fear of continued stock market declines that may be keeping potential investors on the sideline. Since the beginning of the war with Iran on February 28, the S\&P 500 has fallen more than 7%. Since its most recent all-time high, the index is down nearly 9%. That puts it a stone's throw away from correction territory, marked by a decline of 10%. And as of late March, the Dow and the Nasdaq already crossed that threshold. That much red could unnerve anyone.
Here’s the thing though: it’s almost never a bad time to buy stocks — even in today's environment — so long as you have the discipline and patience to see your investment through.
Long-term investments tend to pay off, but sticking with them is easier said than done sometimes. It’s simple when times are good, but can require nerves of steel at times like this. If you’re thinking about putting some money into stocks right now, you probably have a lot of questions, and we’ve done our best to answer them below.
Is the stock market at a high or a low right now?
The stock market’s highs and lows can only be identified in hindsight, but we can look to history for a sense of where we are in the cycle right now.
The most recent bear market — defined as a period where major stock indexes fall at least 20% from their recent highs — was from late 2021 to late 2022, when the S\&P 500 declined about 25% amid fears about high inflation and rising interest rates.
Since then, we have been in a bull market — a period of rising stock prices — although stock prices have been choppy at times.
The S\&P 500 got close to re-entering a bear market in early 2025, when new U.S. tariffs (import taxes) spooked investors, but it rebounded shy of the 20% decline threshold. Despite the index's poor performance so far in 2026 and the recent Iran-related volatility, we're still not in a bear market.
The current bull market started about three and a half years ago, in October 2022, and the S\&P 500 is still up more than 75% since then. Since 1942, the average bull market has lasted 4.4 years and had a total return of 151.6%.
Granted, that’s just the average — some bull markets are much longer, and others are much shorter — but it does suggest that stock prices could go higher for a while before the next long-term downturn.
How the S\&P 500 is doing this year
Here's how the S\&P 500 is performing this year against the closing value of previous years. Also note the long-term averages, which help to bolster the argument that sufficiently long-term investments tend to pay off.
Stock market data may be delayed up to 20 minutes, and is intended solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes.
What are investors nervous about right now?
There’s always some reason to be nervous about the stock market, but 2026 is a period of heightened investor anxiety for several reasons. Here are a couple of major themes:
Oil prices and the Iran war
This is the most recent and most influential force pushing stocks down right now. Military action against Iran has effectively closed the Straight of Hormuz, a small waterway crucial for energy exports out of the Middle East. Since February 26, the price of oil has surged more than 50%, from around \$70 per barrel to more than \$110 per barrel today. An oil shock of this magnitude is rare, and has consequences far more reaching than just prices at the pump.
One forecast from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows the inflation rate rising to 4.2% this year, up from 2.4% today, because of the conflict.
Tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty
Since Donald Trump returned to office in early 2025, the U.S. has threatened or imposed tariffs on many countries, including its major trading partners. It has also taken military action against Venezuela, and threatened to do so against Denmark over control of Greenland.
The new administration’s apparent willingness to start trade conflicts (and military conflicts) has dimmed the U.S.’s reputation in the eyes of international investors, and raised fears that the world’s largest economy is entering an isolationist phase that could impede the free flow of goods, services, people and money around the world.
These fears have led to a sharp decline in the value of the U.S. dollar over the last year, as well as a movement among investors toward safe-haven assets such as gold.
Overvalued tech stocks and a potential AI bubble
In the early 2020s, very large tech companies such as Alphabet (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA) dominated the major stock indexes and accounted for much of their increases. Some relative newcomers to the tech industry, such as Tesla (TSLA) and Palantir (PLTR), also ballooned in price in the first half of the decade.
A big factor in the tech-driven rally has been hype about the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), rather than concrete revenue and earnings numbers. This hype has propelled some tech stocks to disproportionately high prices compared to their earnings and revenue, leading some experts to question whether their valuations really make sense, or whether they could be in a bubble.
In December 2025, NerdWallet’s investing newsletter, [The Nerdy Investor](https://nerdyinvestor-nerdwallet.beehiiv.com/), asked more than a dozen economists about the AI bubble theory. You can read that issue [here](https://nerdyinvestor-nerdwallet.beehiiv.com/p/are-we-in-an-ai-bubble-heres-what) to see what they said.
Timing the market vs. time in the market
When you start investing isn’t as important as how long you stay invested, said Marguerita Cheng, a certified financial planner and CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Gaithersburg, Maryland. And that’s a maxim to remember right now, too.
“The best way to build wealth is to stay invested, but I know that can be challenging,” Cheng said in an email interview.
It’s easier if you invest only for long-term goals. The reason you don't invest money you may need in the next five years is because it’s entirely possible the stock or mutual fund you purchase will drop in value in the short term. If you need those funds for a large purchase or emergency, you may have to sell your investment before it has a chance to bounce back, resulting in a loss.
But if you’re investing for the long term, those short-term drops aren’t of much concern to you. It’s the compounding gains over time that will help you hit your retirement or long-term financial goals. (See how compounding gains work with this [investment calculator](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/calculators/investment-calculator).)
It is possible to invest for shorter-term goals using more conservative investments, such as [bonds](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/what-is-a-bond) or [fixed-income](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/fixed-income-investments) investments. These tend to be more resilient against stock market downturns but often rise much less than stocks during bull markets. You can tailor your [asset allocation](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/what-is-asset-allocation) — the breakdown of your portfolio between volatile investments such as stocks, and conservative investments such as bonds — to suit different goals with different time horizons.
How long would my account take to recover from a downturn?
According to 2024 data from Invesco and Bloomberg, it has taken an average of three months for the Dow Jones Industrial Average to recover from a 5-10% drop, and an average of eight months to recover from a 10-20% drop.
You can use our market crash recovery calculator below to estimate how long it would take you to get back to your pre-drop balance after a downturn.
As you can see, even a severe downturn is unlikely to keep you below break-even level for more than five years — so long as you stay the course and keep making modest contributions to your investments consistently.
This is still true if you assume relatively weak returns after the crash, which would be unusual; typically the market rises quite fast in the first couple of years after a downturn.
Where and how should I invest right now?
Here at NerdWallet, we have a lot of opinions about which stock trading platforms are best for different kinds of investors. Here’s a quick summary of some of the best brokers we review, broken down by different investing styles and use cases:
Best for passive, long-term investors: Fidelity
Fidelity frequently wins several of NerdWallet’s [Best-Of Awards](https://www.nerdwallet.com/l/awards-investing-2026) for brokers, such as Best Online Broker for Beginners, due to its wide investment selection, easy-to-use app, and strong customer service support.
Buy-and-hold investors who want index funds — broadly-diversified investment funds that contain hundreds of stocks and just give you the market’s overall rate of return — will likely be pleased with Fidelity’s offerings, which include fractional share purchases (the ability to buy less than one share of a fund, using only a small amount of money) and a proprietary family of completely free index funds that have no sales fees or expense ratios.
Less-tech-savvy investors, however, may be bothered by Fidelity’s high fees for placing orders via phone call. You can read more in our [full Fidelity review](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/fidelity).
Best for active traders and stock pickers: Interactive Brokers
Although financial advisors often say that most people are best off passively investing in index funds, some people prefer to take a more active role in their investments. Stock pickers and advanced traders do have the chance to outperform the major stock market indexes, at least in theory.
If you’re trying to beat the market, you’ll probably want a brokerage account with a wide investment selection, advanced research and trading tools and low fees — and Interactive Brokers checks those boxes. It also offers some of the lowest margin rates (interest rates on loans for investment) of any broker we review.
These are some of the reasons why it has won NerdWallet’s Best Broker for Advanced Traders award and topped our [Best Day Trading Platforms roundup](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/best/online-brokers-platforms-for-day-trading) for several years running.
However, Interactive Brokers is very much geared toward advanced and professional-level investors — beginners and even intermediate investors may want to avoid IBKR, as its platforms can be hard to navigate. See our [full Interactive Brokers review](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/interactive-brokers) for more information.
Best for pessimists: Public
Another type of investor worth addressing here is the conservative investor who thinks the stock market is due for a downturn any day now. They might want a brokerage account that makes it easy to keep cash on the sidelines — and earn a decent rate of interest via bonds or high-yield cash accounts — while they wait for that downturn to happen.
Public.com stands out for this use case, thanks to its variety of high-yield cash account options, with yields above 3% at the time of writing, and its Treasury bond offerings.
More technically-skilled pessimists who want to use options to bet against the market will also love Public.com’s options rebate program, which pays you a small amount for each option contract traded, depending on your order volume.
That said, Public.com does have some drawbacks — they don’t offer mutual funds, and their market research and customer support capabilities are limited. Check out our [full Public.com review](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/public) for the full scoop.
Which stocks should I buy right now?
Most people are better off making consistent investments in index funds, rather than trying to pick stocks.
That said, many traders believe that different industries perform better at different points in the economic cycle of bull and bear markets. Strategies which attempt to follow these trends are known as sector rotation, and there’s no solid consensus about which sector rotation strategies actually work. But here are some common patterns in sector rotation theory:
| Stage of economic cycle | Sectors that may outperform |
|---|---|
| Recession | Consumer staples, health care, utilities |
| Bull market | Consumer discretionary, industrials, technology, real estate |
| Peak | Communication services |
| Bear market | Consumer staples, utilities |
Before you try a [sector rotation](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/sector-rotation) strategy, there are a couple of caveats to keep in mind. First, there isn’t universal agreement about which sector rotation strategy is the right one. And second, it’s hard to identify where in the economic cycle we are right now. Typically, it only becomes clear in hindsight.
🤓 Nerdy Tip
Did you know you can practice investing, or "paper trade" with fake money before you risk real cash? Here are the brokerages that offer free [paper trading accounts](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/best/brokers-paper-trading).
| Brokerage firms | |
|---|---|
| [](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61fabd58-44eb-11e8-9c02-fb51e6eec6b5?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=product_image&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) [NerdWallet rating](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/schwab-brokerage "Read review") [Learn more](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61fabd58-44eb-11e8-9c02-fb51e6eec6b5?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=apply_now_button&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) on Charles Schwab's website | [](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61f673ba-44eb-11e8-9c02-9b9860598c1e?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=product_image&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) [NerdWallet rating](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/etrade "Read review") [Learn more](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61f673ba-44eb-11e8-9c02-9b9860598c1e?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=apply_now_button&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) on E\*TRADE's website |
| [](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61f78eb2-44eb-11e8-9c02-eb58816e8aeb?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=product_image&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) [NerdWallet rating](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/vanguard "Read review") [Learn more](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61f78eb2-44eb-11e8-9c02-eb58816e8aeb?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=apply_now_button&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) on Vanguard's website | [](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61ed8d72-44eb-11e8-9c02-53658283ffc3?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=product_image&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) [NerdWallet rating](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/reviews/fidelity "Read review") [Learn more](https://www.nerdwallet.com/redirect/61ed8d72-44eb-11e8-9c02-53658283ffc3?calling_deployable_name=seo-pages&calling_deployable_version=1.0.0&cta_type=apply_now_button&finish_type=external_application&impression_position=0&impression_section=mini_product_card) on Fidelity's website |
The water’s fine, but wade in slowly
One of the best strategies for remaining calm and staying invested during periods of volatility is to treat investment contributions like recurring subscriptions — a technique known as [dollar-cost](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/dollar-cost-averaging-2) [averaging](https://www.nerdwallet.com/investing/learn/dollar-cost-averaging-2).
Through this approach, you invest a specific dollar amount at regular intervals, say once or twice a month, rather than trying to time the market. In doing so, you’re buying in at various prices that, in theory, average out over time.
Robert M. Wyrick Jr., managing member and chief investment officer of Post Oak Private Wealth Advisors in Houston, notes this is also an excellent strategy for first-time investors looking to enter the market during times of uncertainty.
“It’s very difficult to time when to get into the market, and so there’s no time like the present,” Wyrick says. “I wouldn’t go all-in at once, but I think waiting around to see what happens to the economy or what happens to the market in the next three, six or nine months in most cases ends up being a fool’s errand.” | |||||||||
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