When it comes to the stock market, most people focus the bulk of their attention on the two primary areas of analysis — fundamental and technical. The former generally focuses on hard data such as earnings and sales, as well as investor expectations of future earnings and the growth potential for a given company. The latter typically involves analysis of chart patterns, price action, and a host of indicators based on price or volume fluctuations.

Although there is much to be gleaned from both of these forms of analysis, many investors fail to consider a third method: "seasonal" analysis. When engaging in seasonal analysis, an individual is typically looking for price movements that tend to occur on a repetitive basis during a particular given time frame for a given market or market sector.