Why may is historically down time for stocks?

That is what I read from article, but why? Rational, logic behind it?

 

Who wants to worry about positions when they are summering in the hamptons?

 

I got some data for S&P 500 since 2003 in spreadsheet.

May hasnt been the worst month since 2003.

Jan, Feb, June, August, September were all worse than May.

The best months were April, July, November and December.

March, May, October were average months, not the worst and not the best.

 

So selling end of July and buying at end of October seems to be a better strategy than sell in May these days.

 

simply ignore those articles & stop investing.
Then go and do trading.
Then you will find every month is a good month
(from Jan all the way to Dec) for trading.

 

Except last year sell (SPX) in July and you missed out on 200 points gained in August. Then Sept and October both dropped at the end of those respective months.

Long term holds should just use stops ... to get out and to get back in.

edit: just noticed this in options section. Welp you are on your own when it comes to Ops stops-wise.

 

Years ago and for a long time (before the days of the "Fed interventionist market"), historically the market was basically flat on average from May-Nov. Nearly all of the gains were made from Nov-May.

Don't know if that correlation exists these days.

 

eod data is free. looking at sp500 since 1993 may has more ups than down

 

i doubt. It is all distorted and different now.

 

Seasonality is a fickle beast.