Holding no positions is a compulsory lesson. Those who know how to buy are apprentices; those who know how to sell are masters. After selling, one can choose to take a break, especially when the market is unfavorable—it's crucial to restrain oneself. So when is the best time to hold no positions?

The first opportunity is when making money becomes too easy, such as achieving a 45% or higher monthly return. At this point, it's wise to take a break and observe, as a market adjustment is often imminent.

The second opportunity is during the clearly defined mid-phase of a bear market, when each day feels stagnant. At this stage, there's little to look forward to in the near term, and the market remains unchanged day after day. Holding no positions is a sound choice. Only after a complete market shakeout will new opportunities emerge. This shakeout process typically needs to break through most investors' psychological price thresholds before a new market cycle can begin.

Third, if you encounter a market that keeps declining day after day, you can also choose to hold no positions and wait for the emotional sell-off to exhaust itself before returning—this is also a good strategy.

There are also times when holding no positions is inadvisable. For instance, after a short-term sharp decline, a recovery rally often follows. Because the sudden drop catches many off guard, there's usually some rebound afterward. For example, during events like trading halts, most institutions can't react in time.

Another such time is near the end of a bear market, when trading volume is typically very low and daily market movements are extremely dull. Especially when no one is paying attention to stocks, this is actually the time to lay low and wait for improvement. A characteristic of this phase is that IPO stocks keep falling below their issue prices, making it difficult to launch new stocks. This may prompt the government to suspend IPOs, and such a suspension is the best signal for a bull market to start. If stock issuance continues unabated, the market is unlikely to recover.