The fraction of the overall market that is participating in the market's up or down move. Looking at this parameter allows investors to reduce the impact of the large cap stocks which influence market indices the most, and instead examine price trends of a diverse range of stocks. This parameter is important in the context of technical analysis, as a measure of market sentiment. Market breadth is also used to refer to the number of independently issued price forecasts for a certain number of stocks (less common). also called breadth.