A thrust day

An up-thrust day is when the close for the current period surpasses the previous period's close. A down-thrust day is when the close for the current period is

below the previous period's close.

Three Phases of Major Trends

A trend represents a general direction of the market. Dow Theory asserts that major trends have three distinct phases: accumulation, public participation and distribution.

The accumulation phase represents the first part of the trend in which those who are well-informed buy or sell. In other words, if the well-informed recognize that

the recent downtrend is soon coming to an end, they would buy, and vice versa.

In a range bound market - meaning a market that does not possess a clear directional trend, but rather moves back and forth between support and resistance -

traders are essentially looking to short at the top of the range, and buy at the bottom of the range.