Churning

The illegal practice in which brokers intentionally trade in their client’s accounts to increase commissions.

The term also refers to a period during which a stock has high turnover(i.e. high volume relative to the average in the past) but little movement in price. This may also be used to describe a stock market index. Churning is seen by some traders to indicate strong selling by institutions trying to dump the stock and hence may be a red flag and a caution warning.