Business Glossary

price range within which a stock, bond, or commodity has traded since going public. A volatile stock will have a wider trading range than a more conservative stock. Technical analysts see the top of a historical range as the resistance level and the bottom as the support level . They consider it highly significant if a security breaks above the resistance level or below the support level. Usually such a move is interpreted to mean that the security will go onto new highs or new lows, thus expanding its historical trading range.