A market trend is the general direction of price movement in a given asset over a period. Understanding market trends helps you assess the potential of future price movements and plan accordingly. Trends can be long-term upward, seasonal, or downward. They can also vary by region, allowing brands to identify shifts in consumer expectations and new customer pain points.
Many tools can help you identify market trends, including technical analysis and fundamental analysis. A popular technique is to use trend lines. A line drawn between 2 or more high points (on a chart) shows the direction of prices in the future. An uptrend line connects a series of highs, while a downtrend line creates a channel with lower highs. Other technical analysis tools include using the Relative Strength Index (RSI), moving averages, and candlestick patterns to identify impulsive and corrective moves in price.
Using historical data to predict future demand is critical for making growth investments. Whether it’s to launch a new product, expand into a new region, or adjust inventory levels, you need to know what consumers want before committing resources. Investing in trend research can help you uncover new customer expectations, spot unmet customer pain points, and inspire innovative solutions.
Using a tool like Semrush to collect competitive website traffic stats and discover industry growth points is a great way to gather quantitative trend data. But you need more than just data to turn these signals into strategy. That’s why we’ve outlined the steps to conduct a thorough market trend analysis and make it a repeatable process so that you can spot the right opportunities at the right time.