i think the large money is invested in one direction,their brokers plant seeds along the way,i.e.merrill moves from hold to buy on xyz stock,xyz goes up they move from buy to hold,then hold to sell,so those seeds cause small rallys in bear markets or small selloffs in bull markets,there is a constant sell or buy media program going on,with inside info you might know ahead of time about the AA earnings or employment #,but overall it's important to know what the big money's position is because 9 times out of ten ,the bigger moves will be in there favor. This notion of trend will give you some insurance against the worst case scenario,something to always have in the back of your mind,overall its still money management that wins,first follow money management,then follow or fade trend