Introduction
Unchanged is a situation wherein the rate or price of a security will remain the same for quite some duration. This unchanged price can be seen over any duration. It could be a day, week, month, or even a year.
The term unchanged is used generally among options, fixed income, equities, and futures markets. The term unchanged is also applicable to indices, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), and the mutual funds’ Net Asset Value (NAV).
Albeit, it is reasonable to make a note of an unchanged price between two randomly picked times, say 2 p.m on a Wednesday, and then at 11:15 a.m the following Monday, most traders and investors will focus on either unchanged intra-day price or unchanged closing price over several trading days.
Understanding Unchanged
An unchanged intraday price is most common for security which has turned out to be illiquid and has lost popularity, such as microcap stocks, closed-ended funds, and interest in private companies that are not traded on any of the major stock exchanges. Some ETFs are only rarely traded and more likely to have unchanged prices for several days.
Contradicting, some stocks listed on the S&P 500 end a normal day with an unchanged price, or the opening price of the session’ and closing price are the same even when the markets have remained calm.
Example
Consider WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude, which is being traded at USD70.32 at two specific markets went on to close in both October 2018 and November 2019. During the holding period return, the time mentioned remained unchanged. This can be of some use for those investors or traders to analyse the trend which went on to hold long-term futures over the time frame mentioned.
