Prices Move in Trends

The first and also the key premise of technical analysis is that asset prices tend to move in trends. Three kinds of trends exist- the upward trend (bullish), the downward trend (bearish) and no trend (sideway move). In case of a sideway move, prices oscillate in a narrow range for some time, whereas their future direction is hard to determine. According to technical analysis, a trend is in effect until it reverses. That's why most traders focus on trading the market at the time of trend reversals, as it is at that time when the biggest price moves occur, which means high potential for profitable trades.

However, there is not only one trend in a stock chart. On the contrary, there are several trends in one chart. For example, in a monthly chart we can find a long-term trend, which actually consists of many smaller trends. In a daily chart we can find a daily trend, in an hour chart an hour trend and in a minute chart a minute trend. Most of technical analysts recommend trading in the direction of the trend. They usually start by determining direction of the long-term trend and then gradually move to lower timeframes, whereas the key trend to watch should be the one corresponding to the time horizon during which we want to have the position open.