The choppy up-one-day, down-the-next pattern that appears on a stock index near a major low, produced by sector rotation rather than indecision. On any major market low, not all stocks reverse on the same day: the strongest stocks (those with the most accumulation behind them) reverse first, while weaker stocks with less professional interest reverse later. This staggered reversal creates the characteristic churning seen on index lows and is why index-only analysis can mislead — a clean reading of the S&P 500 may mask the fact that technology stocks are still in distribution while financials are already in accumulation.