Most investors get comfortable first – and miss the biggest moves because of it

Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by artificial intelligence).

Editor’s note: Last week, I introduced you to my InvestorPlace colleague Jonathan Rose.

I compared the market today to my new Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing: powerful, fast, and unforgiving if you don’t know how to handle it.

Jonathan then showed you what this type of control looks like in the oil market, where he watches specific signals to determine which direction the money is actually moving.

Today, he goes one step further.

In the article below, Jonathan explains the basic philosophy behind his approach: he doesn’t try to predict every headline in advance. He’s looking for the evidence that’s emerging now — and he’s sharing a free pick of stocks he thinks are a good fit for this market.

This is an idea I respect. It’s not much different from what I’ve spent my career doing with my quantitative systems: identifying strength, institutional buying pressure, and stocks with characteristics that can lead to market-beating returns.

And tonight, Jonathan is taking the same approach Peak convergence With my dear friend Mark Chaikin.

in 8pm ESTthey’ll unveil a brand new signal that combines Jonathan’s research with Mark’s institutional money flow work — including the five stocks he’s flashing on right now.

The event is free, but starts tonight. So don’t postpone this.

You can reserve your place here.

Now, here’s Jonathan…

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A few weeks ago, I was at a conference in Washington, DC

In attendance were some of the best market analysts in the business, people I have deep respect for, including some names you might recognize by them. Investor location and Chaiken Analytics. Really, really smart people.

And I sat there listening to the presentations, noticing the same thing over and over again.

Everyone was talking about the future.

Where is lithium headed in five years? Are we in the artificial intelligence bubble? What will happen to oil if the situation worsens in Iran? Where does the Fed go in 2027?

Brilliant take. Really useful frameworks. I’ve learned things.

But I kept thinking: This is not how I trade.

The analysts in that room have built amazing track records of doing things their way. I’m not saying they’re wrong.

Louis Navellier The Stock Grader quantification system has been beating the market for nearly 50 years. Eric Fry He was shorting dot-com stocks while Wall Street was still buying — and made his subscribers a fortune when the Nasdaq fell 80%. and Mark Chaikin He’s spent 60 years building instruments that institutional investors pay a fortune for.

These people are serious…and successful.

But I realized that I belong to a completely different tradition, which produces a completely different kind of advantage.

I spent 20 years in rooms that no one will care about five years from now. CME floor. Bond futures desks. Central Bank of Iraq. You care now. What’s moving? Where is the volatility? What’s the cheapest way to ride what’s actually happening – right now?

I still think that way. As I sat in that conference room, I realized that the gap between these two approaches is actually where my advantage lives.

Here’s what I’m going to walk you through today.

First, the basic principle I walk by – one sentence that seems simple but took 20 years to fully understand.

Second, what does this principle look like when it works – with some real numbers from last year to back it up.

And third, free stock picking is a direct expression of this exacting approach right now.

It fits the current market setup better than almost anything else I see.

Let’s go.

The principle I trade by

Here’s my entire trading philosophy in one sentence:

Nothing cheap at all. Nothing expensive at all. Everything is relative.

When people ask me about this, I use the example of buying a house. When you’re shopping for a home, don’t walk down the street and just decide what it’s worth. You look at what everything else in the neighborhood is sold for. Find the person whose ask price did not move with the group. You buy this one.

Trading is identical.

I’m not saying, “Lithium will be higher in five years because electric vehicle demand is structural.” I wait until the price of lithium actually strengthens. When that happens, look up Lithium stocks And look for the one who hasn’t moved on with the rest yet. I buy this one.

I don’t expect. I react. Then I find the most effective way to express that opinion.

This keeps me out of trades that trust me. “This has to work out eventually” deals. Trades where your fingers are crossed rather than following the evidence.

Here’s what it looks like when it works.

Earlier this year, the conflict between Iran and the United States escalated, and crude oil price volatility increased. Many investors were glued to the news, trying to figure out what would happen next.

My members and I did not ask this question. We were wondering where the smart money was actually moving.

The answer appeared clearly. Institutional mode was focused on energy names before the broader market caught on.

We entered into a bullish trade Occidental Petroleum Company (Oxy) on February 19 and exited about 42 days later with a gain of 780%.

Soon after, we brought the same approach to another name for energy – Irene Limited (Erin) – We achieved gains of 485% in about two months.

We did not anticipate the war or what it would do to energy prices. We followed the footprints.

That’s rinse and repeat for us. Quarter after quarter, same process, different names.

During the past year:

• 1,076% profit on the name of a pharmaceutical company: Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (Bmmi).
• 959% profit from lithium trading: Albemarle Company (Alp).
• 700%+ on the name of rare earth elements: MP Materials Company (deputy).
• Separated couple on a copper miner, Freeport-McMoRan Corporation (FCX)in the same month.

I’m not sharing these to brag. These numbers come directly from this process. This process works precisely because it is not based on prediction, but rather on waiting for evidence to emerge, then taking action.

Free stocks – and why they fit now

One name I want you to look at now is Ameresco Company (I command you).

This is not a flashy name. It won’t make your pulse race like AI games do. But that’s exactly where the best setups hide – unattractive names where fundamentals quietly improve and the smart money moves before the narrative hits.

Ameresco implements energy efficiency projects, renewable infrastructure, microgrids, and grid modernization. Its clients are governments, utilities, hospitals and schools, the type of clients who sign long-term contracts and don’t disappear when the market gets volatile.

That’s why it fits my frame now.

The boom in artificial intelligence, electrification, and aging infrastructure is creating enormous pressures on existing energy systems. This pressure has to go somewhere. Increasingly, it’s going to companies that can modernize and enhance the network — quietly, before the main story has fully taken hold.

Ameresco recently announced strong growth in its backlog related to renewable infrastructure and distributed energy systems. At the same time, corporate positioning is built around energy modernization names — the same kind of footprint we track before a move even develops.

This is not a “five years from now” thesis.

This is the setup now. Money is already moving. I’m just pointing the way.

Which brings me to tonight.

Earlier, I mentioned Mark Chaikin. Mark has spent sixty years in the markets. He is the creator of the Money Flow Index which is now integrated into every Bloomberg terminal on the planet, and a former research provider to Paul Tudor Jones, George Soros, and Steve Cohen.

I’ve spent the last several months working with Mark, and we discovered something when we started comparing notes: We’ve spent our entire careers tracking the same thing — smart money — just from different angles.

My work identifies where great, high-persuasion sites appear. Mark’s Fund Flow emphasizes where institutional capital is actually flowing into the underlying stock. One signal measures conviction. The other confirms the trend. Together, they are something neither of us would have alone.

We combined them and tested the result against nearly 200 of my real trading recommendations. Confirmed setups produced 45% higher gains. The win rate jumped 17 percentage points. The filter would have kept us away from two-thirds of losing trades.

We call it Convergence operator. We’ll be announcing it for the first time tonight at 8pm ET.

AMRC is one of five stocks where this operator is currently active. The other four are in the report you’ll get when you do this Sign up for the VIP list for our free event.

Click here to reserve your place. And again, get all five shares before the event if you sign up for the VIP list.

The smart money is already moving. The question is, are you in front of him?

The creative trader always wins,

Jonathan Rose

founder, Master of Commerce