The difference in the cost of an asset or security from one period to another. While it can be computed for any length of time, the most commonly cited price change in the financial media is the "daily price change", which is the change in the price of a stock or security from the pvious trading day's close to the current day's close. Price change over a period of time such as year-to-date or past 12 months are also commonly used time periods, and is generally computed as a percentage change.
Percentage price change is generally the norm for computing asset performance. For shorter intra day periods, absolute price change may be used by momentum and algorithmic traders as the basis for trading and arbitrage strategies.
Price change forms one of the two elements that comprise the total returns from an investment over a period of time, the other being pidends or distributions obtained from the investment.