The Dip Buyer's Checklist · Free

Ten checks before you buy any dip.

A falling price tells you nothing by itself. These are the checks that separate washed-out (fear ran ahead of the facts) from broken (the fear is the facts). They're also the checks our Mood Score runs every trading day, on 2,325 stocks — so after you've run them by hand a few times, you'll know exactly what the score is doing for you.

Keep it open next to your brokerage. Research, not advice — every decision stays yours.

1

Is the fear bigger than the news?

Put the move next to the actual information. A 30% drop on a 5% guidance trim is fear running ahead of facts. A 30% drop on a withdrawn outlook and a CFO exit is repricing. If you can't name the news, you can't claim the fear is overdone.

2

Is the sector sinking with it?

A stock-specific panic and a sector-wide one are different trades. If the whole group is down, the stock may just be the beta — and it recovers (or doesn't) with the group, not on its own story.

3

Has the slide stopped accelerating?

You don't need the exact bottom; you need the selling to be exhausting itself. Falling less on bad days, holding flat on quiet ones — that's a floor forming. Still making lower lows on rising volume is a knife, not a dip.

4

What's the survival math?

Cheap means nothing if the company needs to raise money at these prices. Cash, debt maturities, burn rate. The most expensive dips are the ones that dilute you at the bottom.

5

Would you want it without the chart?

Cover the price history and ask: do I want this business at this valuation? If the only thing attracting you is how far it fell, you're not buying a discount — you're anchoring to a price that may never have been right.

6

Is there a known event ahead?

Earnings next week, a court date, an FDA decision, a lockup expiry. Fear in front of a known event is often deserved fear — the market is pricing an outcome you can't handicap better than it can.

7

How crowded was it before the drop?

The fall from "everyone's favorite" is longer than the fall from "ignored." A name that was priced for applause has layers of disappointed holders above you, each one a seller into your bounce.

8

Has it been this hated before — and what happened?

Some stocks have a history of washing out and recovering; others go quiet and stay there. The pattern doesn't repeat on command, but a name with no history of coming back needs a stronger case today.

9

Are you sizing it like a thesis or like a lottery ticket?

If you're only comfortable with a tiny position, your conviction is telling you something — listen to it. If you're tempted by a huge one, the fear you should check is your own FOMO in reverse.

10

What would make you wrong?

Decide before you buy: the specific thing that invalidates the idea, and what you'll do when you see it. A dip buy without an exit condition isn't contrarian — it's just hoping in a different direction.

Our Mood Score runs this list every trading day.

2,325 stocks, scored 0–100 on fear and greed. The deepest Oversold names land on one board with the risk context attached — and the rare ones that clear every check earn the only action label in the system: Strong Buy. See it free for 14 days.

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