Momentum is the rate of acceleration of a security's price—that is, the speed at which the price is changing. Momentum trading is a strategy that seeks to capitalize on momentum to enter a trend as it is picking up steam.

Simply put, momentum refers to the inertia of a price trend to continue either rising or falling for a particular length of time, usually taking into account both price and volume information. In technical analysis, momentum is often measured via an oscillator and is used to help identify trends.