Downtick Volume

You may be tempted to commit this term to memory as the number of a new breed of woodland ticks that migrates throughout the world safely ensconced in the downy warmth of Tom Brady’s UGG boots. And who could blame you? The global population of these insects has grown due to the uptick in UGG boot enthusiasts around the world who embrace Tom’s fashion sense, mostly because they all assume Gisele has something to do with it.

Here’s another take on downtick volume—also focused on trending, and therefore worthy of your attention:

The number of shares of a particular security, meaning a stock, bond, or other investment, bought and sold in a single day at a price lower than the price at which the shares previously sold.

Analyists subtract this figure from the uptick volume, or number of shares bought and sold at prices higher than those at which the shares previously sold. The difference between uptick volume and downtick volume is known as net volume. Net volume is used by traders to determine patterns in the movement of the price of a given security over longer periods of time, and to decide whether to buy or sell it.