Trend, also called tending or inclination, is the overall direction of something over time. Trend can mean anything from the course of a river to the evolution of an idea.
Trends are important for marketers because they offer clues about what is being demanded in the market, which in turn helps with predicting future demand. Using trends to identify patterns in search data can help marketers better target their marketing spend, understand how competitors are responding to the marketplace, and make decisions that will maximize the effectiveness of their campaigns.
In a market context, trend is most often used to describe the underlying direction of prices, whether they are rising or falling. Traders follow the trend to attempt to maximize their gains. They buy in an uptrend and sell when a price touches a lower trendline. The concept of trend is fundamental to technical analysis, and it is a core part of any successful trading strategy.
There are many ways to identify a trend, including observing the overall direction of prices, and looking for a specific pattern in a price chart, such as flags, pennants, wedges, or channels. There are also a number of technical indicators, such as moving averages and momentum indicators, that can be used to help traders spot and follow a trend.
Another method is to look for the retests of key levels. For example, if a support level has been tested four times in an uptrend and each time the market fails to close below that level, it is a good indication of the strength of the trend. If the price has failed to break above a resistance level, it is a good indicator that the market may be ready to turn down.
Ultimately, the best way to identify a trend is to use a combination of methods and to be aware of the limitations of each. Ideally, a trader will use the trends they have identified as a tool in conjunction with other tools, such as technical indicators, economic indicators, and market data.
The Exploding Topics database contains trends on a wide variety of topics, from emerging pet brands to peak travel companies. Each trend shows the relative growth of the term on Google over time and provides a useful gauge for consumer interest. Users can click on a trend to learn more, and they can even save a trend by creating a Project, which are personalized folders that users can track over time. Projects can be named whatever the user likes, and they live inside the Exploding Topics dashboard so that users can easily monitor them at a glance. A Project can be a great way to keep track of the trends that are most relevant to a company’s business. It can also be a valuable resource for identifying new opportunities to grow.
