Unchanged: Definition, How It Works, and Examples

Unchanged describes a situation in which the price or rate of a security is exactly the same between two points in time. That time span can be short (intraday), across trading sessions (opening vs. closing), or extend over weeks, months, or years. The term applies across markets: equities, fixed income, futures, options, indexes, ETFs, and mutual fund net asset values.

How unchanged prices occur

• Low trading activity (illiquidity). Securities that trade infrequently—microcap stocks, closed-end funds, thinly traded ETFs, or private-company interests—are more likely to show unchanged prices because few or no trades occur at market updates.
• Wide bid–ask spreads and stale quotes. When trades are sparse, quoted prices may remain unchanged until a new trade forces an update.
• Selective endpoint comparison. If an investor or analyst picks two chart points with the same price, the holding-period return is unchanged even though the price may have moved substantially between those points.

Why “unchanged” can be misleading

An unchanged holding-period return (start and end prices identical) does not reflect what happened between those dates. Prices can swing widely—peaks and troughs that affect risk, margin calls, or opportunities—yet still produce a net zero return over the period. Relying solely on unchanged endpoints ignores volatility, trading volume, and realized gains/losses from interim movements.

Real-world example

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded at the same closing price on two widely separated dates, yet experienced major volatility between them:
* October 2008 → May 2018: the closing price on those two dates was the same.
* Between those dates, WTI plunged below $40 in January 2009, rose above $100 by May 2011, moved largely sideways until mid‑2014, dropped under $30 by February 2016, then recovered to the same level seen in 2008 by May 2018.

This illustrates how an unchanged holding-period return can mask large underlying price movements driven by changing supply-demand conditions and other market forces.

Investor considerations

• Check trading volume and bid–ask spreads before assuming price stability reflects liquidity or market consensus.
• Examine intraday ranges, peak-to-trough movement, and volatility measures (e.g., historical volatility) to understand risk over the period.
• For long-term positions, consider interim price behavior for margin, financing costs, tax implications, and the psychological impact of volatility.
• Avoid drawing firm conclusions from unchanged endpoints alone—use a fuller set of metrics to evaluate performance and risk.

Key takeaways

• “Unchanged” means the recorded price is the same at two times, but it does not imply the price was stable between those times.
• Unchanged prices are more common in illiquid or thinly traded instruments.
• Holding‑period returns can be unchanged while the security experienced significant volatility in between—so always examine volume and intra-period price action.