Trading up the chain is a media theory created by media theorist and author Ryan Holiday to refer to the way that stories start small online and make their way to mainstream notoriety and coverage at major media outlets. A story might begin on Reddit or a small local blog, and then be written about by a slightly larger site and then a larger site until ultimately it is front page news. Digital media strategist Greg Baroth explained trading up the chain as, "A story on a smaller blog is going to get picked up by that blogs competition, and so forth until next thing you know...everybody from Huffington Post to Daily Mail are sharing what you wanted shared."
The theory has also been referred to as a "self-reinforcing news wave" by media scholar and University of Iowa professor Kembrew McLeod. Though contemporary use of trading up the chain refers to online journalism, it was perhaps first described by author Max Sherover in his book Fakes in American Journalism, published in 1916, to describe print newspapers. Hillary Clinton is also noted for describing the theory when referencing the "vast right-wing conspiracy."