The way things are going, start regularly then finish (5)
I believe the answer is:
trend
'the way things are going' is the definition.
(as in a current trend)
'start regularly then finish' is the wordplay.
'regularly' indicates alternate letters (regularly take one letter, leave next etc.).
'then' says to put letters next to each other.
'finish' becomes 'end' (synonyms).
The alternating letters of 'start' are 'tr'.
'tr'+'end'='TREND'
(Other definitions for trend that I've seen before include "be all over Twitter, Instagram, etc" , "shift" , "turn" , "Prevailing direction" , "swing" .)