head fake (head-fake)
noun phrase

- in basketball, a head movement that makes your opponent think you are going to move in a particular direction when you are really going to move in a different direction (sports)

- an occasion when a share or market seems about to rise or fall, but then moves in the opposite direction (finance & economics)

- an act that is designed to confuse your opponents about your plans or intentions (general meaning)

(Cambridge Dictionary)

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In financial markets, a head fake is where the market appears to be moving in one direction but ends up moving in the opposite direction.

For example, the price of a stock may appear to move up, and all indications prior to that are that it will move up, but shortly after reverses direction and starts moving down. Head fakes are often caused by market makers who place bids and asks in such a way that they cause the apparent (fake) trend in order to later profit from it

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WARNING

In a car chase, the “indicate-right, but turn-left” head fake will sometimes lose the bad guys.

More real life however, you’ll sometimes encounter drivers signalling one way but turning the other. According to some studies up to one-third of people sometimes experience frustration with everyday situations that involve the discrimination of left and right.

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READ MORE?
Erin Froehlich - “Left or Right? Why Some Smart People Confuse Them”

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SYNONYMS

artifice, bait, blind, bluff, cheat, deceit, distraction, diversionary tactic/maneuver/ploy, fake, feint, gambit, hoodwink, imposture, mock attack, outsmart tactic, pretension, pretext, ruse, sham, subterfuge, trick, wile

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation, say something like:

“The HEAD-FAKE is fine in sports, but it’s quite another matter in politics, business, and social media.”