what is a trend 
a trend is the overall direction of a market or an asset s price in technical analysis trends are identified by trendlines or price action that highlight when the price is making higher swing highs and higher swing lows for an uptrend or lower swing lows and lower swing highs for a downtrend many traders opt to trade in the same direction as a trend while contrarians seek to identify reversals or trade against the trend uptrends and downtrends occur in all markets such as stocks bonds and futures trends also occur in data such as when monthly economic data rises or falls from month to month justin pumfrey getty images