After a three-year winning streak of double-digit growth, my Stocks and Shares ISA is now showing a negative return of around 9% since the start of 2026.
Given how volatile the stock market has been over the last few months, I know I’m not alone in this. And I’m sure many readers will be in a similar situation.
Yet while it certainly never feels good to see a portfolio suffer, I’m not losing any sleep. Instead, I’m often finding myself grinning when looking at my highest conviction stock picks, knowing that I now have the opportunity to buy more at an even better price. And that’s why I’ve already been a little busy doing some shopping.
Navigating volatility
Having already spotted that valuations, particularly in the US, were getting quite frothy in late 2025, I began trimming some of my largest positions in stocks like Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) and Arista Networks.
Looking back, it seems my hunch was spot on, given that both shares have retreated over the last few months. But what’s more exciting is the amount of dry powder I now have available — just over 20% of my Stocks and Shares ISA is currently sitting in cash.
Under normal market conditions, as a long-term growth investor, that’s far too much capital to have sitting on the sidelines. After all, the return on cash is pretty abysmal. However, market conditions in 2026 are far from ‘normal’.
The US is imposing global tariffs, a conflict in the Middle East is disrupting trade, and interest rates remain elevated thanks to stubborn inflation. In fact, these are the main reasons behind all the recent volatility. And when navigating through unstable market conditions, having a larger cash position can be enormously advantageous.
Why? Apart from providing some welcome insulation to fluctuating stock prices, it also provides valuable ammunition to take advantage of new buying opportunities created by short-term panic.
As Warren Buffett puts it: “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful”.
What I’m buying
In early February, Shopify moved back to my buy list following the outbreak of the ‘SaaS-pocalypse’, where AI disruption fears caused software-as-a-service companies to sell off regardless of underlying quality.
It’s certainly true that AI technology will likely be able to help merchants build their own webstores without relying on Shopify. But a lack of cheaper alternatives isn’t what made Shopify so successful.
Instead, it’s the platform’s entire ecosystem of solutions that enables merchants to build, manage, and scale their business with headaches like shipping, payment processing, inventory management, marketing, financing, and analytics all taken care of.
When nerves started to cool, Shopify rallied. Then the Iran war broke out, causing the stock to tumble again on fears of incoming weakness in consumer spending.
There’s a valid cause for concern here. Higher energy and food bills limit household budgets for discretionary online shopping. And with the majority of Shopify’s base consisting of small and medium-sized businesses, the revenue stream is more vulnerable to economic shocks.
But it’s important to remember that this is ultimately a cyclical risk. And over the long term, Shopify’s upward trajectory remains intact. That’s why I’ve already begun rebuying shares. And it’s not the only opportunity I’m taking advantage of in my Stocks and Shares ISA right now.
