A market that had been climbing steadily suddenly starts moving sideways. Maybe it gives back a little ground. The candles become choppier, and before long it’s tempting to think, “Well, I guess that’s the end of that trend.”
Sometimes that’s true.
But many times, a healthy trend is simply taking a breather before it continues.
Healthy Trends Need Room to Breathe
During a recent Ticker Request Live, we were looking at Plains All American Pipeline, ticker PAA (May 5, 2026).
The stock had been in a beautiful uptrend since its October 2025 low. It wasn’t racing higher every single day, but it was making steady progress, pausing occasionally before continuing its climb.
Then, between late March and late April, the pace changed. Price stopped advancing as smoothly and began moving sideways instead.
That’s the point where many traders start questioning everything.
The trend suddenly feels less convincing because it isn’t behaving the way it did earlier. A few sideways sessions become enough to make people wonder if the move has already run its course.
During that live session, I compared it to a marathon runner. Even the best marathon runners in the world take breaks. They slow down, grab some water, refuel, and then continue running. They don’t stop because the race is over. They pause because that’s part of successfully completing a long race.
Strong trends often do exactly the same thing.
The Candles Told One Story. Momentum Told Another.
If you only looked at price action during that stretch on PAA, the chart became much less convincing. One day was up, another was down, and the smooth rhythm of the trend seemed to disappear. It’s easy to understand why traders would become cautious.
When we looked at the RSI Power Zones, my favorite momentum indicator, the picture changed.
Momentum had already pushed into overbought territory earlier in the move. As price drifted sideways, the RSI wasn’t showing that buyers had suddenly disappeared. Instead, it was simply working off those overbought conditions. The market was taking time to digest a strong advance.
That’s why I like using price action and momentum together. One gives me the movement of the market, while the other gives me context for that movement. Looking at both helped explain why the pause on PAA looked much healthier than it first appeared.
Don’t Rush to Call the Reversal
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that traders often expect trends to move at the same pace forever.
As long as price keeps climbing quickly, confidence stays high. The moment that pace slows down, doubt starts creeping in. Suddenly every small pullback feels significant, and every sideways candle begins looking like the start of something much bigger.
Markets rarely move that way.
Healthy trends speed up, slow down, consolidate, and then often continue in the same direction. That’s a normal part of how markets move.
It’s one of the reasons I don’t like making decisions based on the first pause I see. I’d much rather let the market continue developing and see whether price action and momentum confirm that something has actually changed.
That little bit of patience can keep you from exiting a good trend far earlier than you needed to.
Let the Market Confirm the Story
When we finished reviewing the PAA chart, I still viewed the larger trend as intact. The pause had allowed momentum to work off its overbought condition, and the evidence suggested the stock still had room to continue toward its longer-term resistance.
That conclusion didn’t come from hoping the trend would continue.
It came from letting the chart tell the story instead of assuming the story had already changed.
There’s a big difference between a market that’s catching its breath and one that’s truly reversing. The more experience you gain reading price action alongside momentum, the easier it becomes to recognize that difference.
So the next time you see a chart with a strong trend stop moving up for a few candles, resist the temptation to assume the move is over.
Take a step back and study what’s actually happening.
- Is price simply consolidating?
- Is momentum working off an extended move?
- Has the market given real evidence that the trend has changed, or has it simply slowed its pace?
Remember the marathon runner.
Even the strongest runners need a chance to catch their breath before continuing toward the finish line. Strong trends often need that same opportunity. Giving them room to do it can make all the difference in how you manage your trades.
🚨 PS — Watch the Full Replay: Last Night’s Weekly Trading Show
We had our 26th broadcast of Ticker Request Live yesterday!
📺Catch the complete Jul 14th replay on Youtube (will come down without notice):
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