OHLC – Open, High, Low, Close. Open is the price at which the stock/index opens for the day; high is the highest price of a stock/index on a particular trading day; low is the lowest price of the stock/index on a particular trading day; and close is the closing price of the stock/index on a particular trading day. For instance, on July 22, 2025, the OHLC of Nifty50 is Open 25,166.65, High is 25,182, Low is 25,035.55 and close is 25,060.90.
Gap-up/Gap-down opening – The two terms refer to how a stock/index opens on a particular trading day at the start of a trading session, when compared to the closing price of the previous trading day. Gap-up opening is when the stock/index opens higher than the closing price of the previous trading day; and Gap-down opening is when the stock/index opens lower than the closing price of the previous trading day.
The gap-up opening of the market indicates bullish momentum, positive sentiment or mood in the market, positive/good news or strong global signs. The gap-down opening indicates a kind of negative sentiment in the market, bearish momentum, weak global cues and any negative news that might affect the market. Say for instance, if the closing price of Nifty50 on the previous trading day was at 24,900 and if the Nifty50 opened on the following day at 25,000, it is considered gap-up opening. On the other hand, if the closing price of Nifty50 on the previous trading day was at 24,900 but the Nifty50 opened on the following day at 24,750, it is considered gap-down opening.
The reason for the gap in the pricing is that it must be noted that like in accounting, the closing price of the previous day is not fixed same as the opening price of the next day in the stock market. This is because markets are closed overnight, and any new information such as earnings, global market cues from the U.S., the U.K. or Asian markets, bomb blast, terrorist attack, bubble burst, geopolitical events, interest rate hikes etc., at night affects the opening prices of the market the next day.
Flat opening/UNCH – If a stock/index’s closing price of the previous day and the opening price on the next trading day is the same, then it means flat opening, without a change in the price. Some traders call this opening to be UNCH – unchanged. However, UNCH ideally means that a stock/index's price remained the same between two specified points in time. The specific points could be between the opening and closing prices of the same trading day or between the closing prices of consecutive trading days.
52-week high/low – 52-week high is the highest price at which a stock/index traded in the last 52 weeks (in other words one full calendar year); 52-week low is the lowest price at which the stock/index traded in the last 52 weeks. These high-low variables provide traders an idea about the range within which the stock/index traded during the year.
Several traders are on the opinion that if a stock price hits the 52-week high level for the near future, it indicates a bullish trend and if a stock/index hits the 52-week low level, it indicates a bearish trend for the near future.
All-time high/low – All-time high is the highest price the stock had ever traded from the time of its listing in the exchange. Likewise, all-time low is the lowest price the stock had ever traded from the time of its listing.
Upper and Lower Circuit – For every stock and index, the stock exchanges fix a range within which the stock/index could be traded on a particular trading day. This range is called a price band for the stock/index for the trading day. On the said trading days, the maximum or the highest price, the stock/index could hit is the upper circuit limit and the lowest price the stock/index could hit on the trading day is the lower circuit limit. Based on the selection criteria of the stock exchanges, the upper circuit limit or the lower circuit limit for a stock is determined at 2%, 5%, 10%, or 20%.
The reason for the exchanges setting up these restrictions is to keep in check the excessive volatility that a stock could face while reacting to any specific news related to it. The criteria for the restrictions, by the exchanges, might vary for derivatives stocks and index.
Say for instance, the price of Vinaya Limited is trading at ₹1,000 and the circuit limit for the stock is 10%. So, on a particular trading day, the upper circuit price for Vinaya Limited is ₹1,000 + ₹100 = ₹1,100. The lower circuit price for the day is ₹1,000 - ₹100 = ₹900. That is, on the said trading day, the price band of the stock would be only between ₹900 on the lower side to ₹1,100 on the upper side. If the buyers gain power and push the price up, for any reason, the stock price will freeze at ₹1,100 (upper circuit) and buy orders would not be executed unless the price falls back within the range. On the other hand, if for any reason, the sellers gain power and bring the price down, the price gets frozen at ₹900 (lower circuit) and the selling would be halted for the day till the price rebounds and stays within the limits.
Market-wide Circuit Breakers (MWCBs) – MWCBs are the automatic trading halt setup that gets triggered or applied not only to a particular stock but also to the entire stock market. MWCBs get triggered when indices such as Nifty 50 or Sensex rises or falls drastically beyond the predefined percentage levels or price band on a particular trading day.
The main objective of MWCBs is to pause the trading activity completely while markets are extremely volatile, providing a cooling time for individual investors and institutional investors to assess the situation and react rationally. The purpose is to prevent panicking and crashes. Theoretically, MWCBs are triggered for both upward and downward movements, however, in practice, MWCBs usually gets triggered on sharp declines. In India, the markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) sets the rules.
On March 13, 2020, the stock markets in India experienced a circuit breaker hit owing to a steep decline in both Nifty50 and the Sensex indices, triggered by concerns raised about COVID-19 pandemic. Owing to the activation of market-wide circuit breaker, there was a halt in the trading activity for 45 minutes. Both the indices fell by more than 10% soon after the market opened and that triggered the circuit breaker. The 45-minuted pause was intended to mitigate panic selling.
Volume – Volumes refer to the entire transactions (both buying and selling) happened on a particular trading day for a stock/index. That is, it is the total of both buying and selling trades during a trading day. For example, Rathi buys 200 shares of ITC and Ramya sells 200 shares of ITC on the same trading day, thereby completing the trade for 200 shares of ITC. Rathi and Ramya together (buy plus sell) have created a volume of 200 shares. However, many beginners in the market tend to assume that the volume count would be 400 (200 buys by Rathi + 200 sells by Ramya), but that is wrong way to look at volumes.
The volume indicates how active/weak a stock/index was on a particular trading day and is considered one of the crucial components in analysing the strength and sentiment of the market. If there is high volume in a stock, it means the stock is highly liquid and traders/investors can easily enter or exit the stock. High volume indicates stronger market interest is there for the stock, may be bullish or bearish. If volume is low, it means that there are fewer participants for the stock and price changes may not be reliable. Especially, in penny stocks, if volumes are low, it means that prices could be manipulated easily.
Gradually, you are becoming aware of how to row the oars of knowledge in the ocean of Stock market. You are unravelling the knots of the jargons and as usual chew the cud and reflect carefully before proceeding further.
Cheers! Catch you later with the third part of the jargon series. Until then...