Discontinuous Price Jumps

Definition

Discontinuous price jumps represent abrupt, significant shifts in an asset’s valuation that occur without intermediate trading activity, frequently manifesting as gaps in historical data. In cryptocurrency and derivatives markets, these movements deviate from continuous stochastic processes by reflecting the immediate impact of extreme information shocks or liquidity imbalances. Market microstructure theory categorizes these phenomena as sudden changes in the state of the order book rather than the result of sequential execution.