What Is Inflection in Trading?

In the context of stock trading, an inflection point is a game-changer in terms of how a particular stock or the market in general is moving. Like a swing in moment in a football game when the losing team looks like it make a comeback, inflection points mark the beginning of fundamentally different behavior for a stock. That could mean jumping higher or falling much lower. They are watched carefully by traders who base their investment strategies on technical analysis. Technical analysis seeks to predict future stock prices by looking at historical prices, trends and trading patterns, rather than evaluating a company's balance sheet or earnings reports.

Technical analysts will look for upper and lower price limits on a stock's trading price. Technical traders will often say there is "resistance" at the upper bound of a stock's price when it has difficulty rising above that price, and "support" at the lower bound when it has difficulty falling below that point.

For example, if a stock routinely reaches $99, only to fall again, technical traders will say there is resistance at $99. Likewise, if a stock never falls below $50, or only dips briefly before quickly rising above that amount, traders will say there is support at that level. When a stock chart breaks out of its historical range, it may be an indication that the stock will continue to move in a dramatic way.

Interpreting trading patterns is only one way to evaluate stock prices, and it isn't necessarily the most reliable. Technical analysts look for inflection points because they believe investor psychology is a big, if not the biggest, factor determining stock prices. Other traders look at a company’s "fundamentals" such as its balance sheet and earnings reports. Fundamental analysts believe looking at the company itself, rather than the trading behavior, is a better way of trying to predict its future price.

Figuring out whether a stock or the market in general has reached an inflection point is difficult. A stock that has shown resistance at $100 a share might rise above that level for a brief period, only to settle back down into its historic trading range. Technical analysts often have different opinions on whether a stock will rise or fall. Ultimately, inflection points are only obvious after the fact.