I recently discovered something quite fascinating about market cycles. Do you know Samuel Benner? Not a professional economist, just a 19th-century farmer who observed patterns so consistent in market movements that we still use them today. It’s crazy when you think about it.

So here’s the thing, Samuel Benner went through quite a few financial crises in his career. Ruined several times by crashes and bad harvests, he thought there had to be some logic behind all of it. Not someone who just accepts bad luck, you know. He started analyzing the cycles, noting the years of panic, market peaks, and troughs. And in 1875, he published his book with his theories. Spoiler alert: it works strangely well.

Benner’s cycle is simple on the surface. He divides the years into three categories. Year A, are the years of financial panic, crashes. About every 18 to 20 years, it repeats. Year B, are the peaks, the times when everyone is euphoric and prices explode. That’s when Samuel Benner says you should sell. And then Year C, is the opposite: market lows, when everything collapses and prices are at their lowest. The perfect opportunity to accumulate.

Initially, Samuel Benner observed agricultural commodities, corn, pork, iron. But traders quickly realized it also works for stocks, bonds, and now for crypto. And that’s where it gets interesting for us.

Look at Bitcoin. It follows a halving cycle every four years, which naturally creates periods of rise and correction. It’s almost as if the crypto market was made to validate Samuel Benner’s theory. Booms, crashes, collective euphoria, widespread panic... all of it perfectly matches what he described.

In 2019, we had the correction Benner predicted. 2026 should be a bullish year according to his calculations. Do you see where I’m going? Traders who understand these cycles can really optimize their entry and exit timing.

Basically, if you trade crypto, you can use Year B to take profits when prices explode and everyone’s shouting “to the moon.” And use Year C to accumulate Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other assets when they’re on sale. It’s a long-term strategy, but Samuel Benner shows us it’s a proven one that’s lasted over a century.

The key takeaway is that markets aren’t just random chaos. There are patterns, cycles, human psychology behind it. Samuel Benner understood this before anyone else, and his observations remain valid even in the ultra-modern crypto context. Combine that with good risk management, and you have a solid approach.