Uptick / downtick

A downward or upward movement of one tick—typically 1 cent—or more in the price quote. Many stock exchanges have an uptick rule that states that a stock can only be sold if the stock price has ticked higher than the last price at which a transaction has taken place. This is aimed at traders who wish to sell short and is designed to prevent snowballing declines in the market. Other exchanges have tick test rules that are essentially the same as the uptick rule: stocks may only be shorted on so-called zero upticks, which means that the transaction price is either higher than the last transaction price, or that the transaction price is the same as the most recent transaction, but higher than the transaction price just before that one. This is known as a zero uptick or zero-plus tick.