A Trend represents a consistant change in prices.Trends differ from support/resistance levels in that trends represent change,whereas support/resistance levels represent barriers to change.

RISING TREND:

A rising trend is defined by successively higher low-prices.A rising trend can be thought of as a rising support level-the bulls are in control and are pushing prices higher.

FALLING TREND:

A falling trend is defined by sucessively lower high-prices.A falling resistance level-the bears are in control and are pushing prices lower.

TREND LINES:

Trends areoften measured and identified by"trend lines".A trend line is a sloping line that is drawn between two or more prominent points on a chart.Rising trends are defined by a trend line that is drawn between two or more troughs(low points) to identify price support.Falling trends are defined by trend lines that are drawn between two or more peaks(highs) to identify the resistance.

INTERPRETATION: A principle of technical analysis is that once a trend has been formed(two or more peaks/troughs have touched the trend line and reversed direction) it will remain intact untill broken.

That sounds much more simplistic than it is!The goal is to analyse the current trend using trend lines and then either invest with the current trend untill the trend line is broken,or wait for the trendline to be broken and then invest with the new(opposite) trend.

One benefit of trendlines is that they help distinguish emotional decisions ("I think it's time to sell...") from analyticaldecisions(I will hold untill the current rising trendline is broken").Another benefit of trendlines is that they almost always keep you on the "right" side of the market.When using trendlines,it's difficult to hold the security for very long when prices are falling just as it's hard to be short when prices are rising--either way the trendline will be broken.