The act of trying to predict the future direction of a market by economic data is called market timing. A person switches among mutual fund assets to try and gain profit from the changes in the market. This is a very difficult and tedious process. If an investor does not have the time or desire to watch the market everyday, then he should avoid market timing and stick to long-term investments.

The concept of market timing is still controversial. The strategy of making buy and sell of stocks or other financial assets by attempting to predict future market price movements is viewed in a lot of different ways. Some say it is a form of gambling based on chance, as they reject the idea of overvalued or undervalued markets. Others consider it a sensible move. People who usually do market timing call it trading.