When buying a stock for the long term, it's important NOT to fight the trend. I.e. if you see that a stock is trending downwards (in otherwords, there's a downtrend channel or the price keeps dropping over time), then entering would incur a much higher risk.

A better way would be to identify companies that are trending upwards (a uptrend channel is formed, or the price keeps increasing over time). That way, the general trend is upwards, and you're going with the flow, instead of fighting against it. Check out my example of Starhub's chart to understand what I mean about a strongly upwards trending stock.

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