Markets are influenced by the speculative behavior of the people that are active in them. For a long time fundamental and technical traders debated what really provided the edge in this battlefield. Recently though there has been a shift in the perception of it's reality, the fields that cover this: behavioral finance & economics. Deciding whether to risk ones money based on information with only the promise of a possible return easily triggers an emotional response and even though our outside brain cortex has given us the power to high cognitive function, science actively seeks out contrary opinions to prevent our observations becoming biased. Analyzing a market works in a similar way, you make an observation which can be anything from a sideways market setting up, to a trend in progress. This observation gives you a signal of opportunity and the decision making process begins.
Markets for Mere Peasants. I'm a financial market effect trader & educator. I do fundamental & technical analysis, behavioural finance, marketing/communication, PR & programming stuff.