what is trailing 
trailing is the term used to describe a recently completed time frame in reference to a set of financial data being gathered for example when reading the financial report of a company the data could be trailing 12 months meaning it covers the previous year or trailing 3 months meaning it covers the previous quarter trailing is also used as a risk management technique a trailing stop order in which a trader instructs his broker to close out his position when it hits a certain point above below the stock price s peak it is referred to as trailing because that peak moves as the share price does so the stop order refers to the latest time frame before the share price reversed direction 