to buy low, sell high
1
3.9
- idiom
:
comprar barato, vender caro
- They buy low, sell high.
Examples
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No wonder: The opportunity to buy corn low and sell high, the right to run a TV station in the 1960s or to import Toyotas in the 1980s, is like finding a $500 bill any time you want.
Academic text (1992) -
Buy low, sell high.
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Whatever happened to "buy low, sell high"?
Blog text (15) -
People buy low and sell high as an investment strategy.
Blog text (31) -
A forecast makes no profit if it is commonplace or if it does not offer a way to buy low and sell high.
Academic text (1992) -
Buy low, sell high.
Blog text (27) -
Buyers want to buy low; sellers want to sell high, and real estate agents need to make a living, so they don't want to spend years getting the job done.
Blog text (26) -
The late-modern economist is modest about profitworthy detail, the detail from which he could buy low and sell high.
Academic text (1992) -
The best strategy for new investors is to buy low, sell high to maximize their profits.
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Many experienced traders advise their clients to buy low, sell high as a fundamental investment principle.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from the constituents: 'buy' + 'low' (purchase when prices are low) and 'sell' + 'high' (sell when prices are high). This simple, instructional maxim follows standard compositional patterns and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the words can infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
The phrase buy low, sell high paints a clear market picture: imagine a shopkeeper who buys fruit when it is cheap and later sells it when many customers want it and the price is high. So, the saying means 'buy when prices are low and sell when prices are high' to make money.