Trading Secrets

chapter 4

Built on solid foundations

The nineteenth-century American author Mark Twain is attributed with saying, ‘History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.’ However, if Mr Twain or whoever it was had been privy to one of the stock market’s most profitable trading secrets, he may have been persuaded to change his mind. That’s because there is an amazing phenomenon – the first quarter housebuilder effect – that has repeated itself year after year for the best part of three decades, generating huge trading profits for those in the know.

First quarter housebuilder effect

Here’s how it works. At the start of the year, all you have to do is buy a selection of the UK’s largest housebuilders and hold them for three months. At the end of ...