Everyone has heard Cramer yell about his favorite stock, usually one which is in the middle of a big rally. And, he always finishes by warning you to buy on a pullback. But, what exactly is a pullback? The answer depends on your investment outlook - trader or investor, long-term or short term.

This is the first post in what should be a series analyzing "pullbacks" of various sorts from a technical and fundamental perspective. In this post, I look at how to identify pullbacks during an upward rally to maximize your entry points into a position. There is also a little bit on how to identify corrections and trend reversals which can often look like a pullback but actually signal the end of an uptrend and the beginning of a new losing trend.