A stochastic process with the Markov property that the distribution of the future process depends solely on the present state, not on the entire history. A Markov process implies that only the present value is relevant for forecasting future values. That is, the present value of the variable in question contains and provides, per se, just as much information about its future value as does its whole history (up to and including the present value). This implies that the behavior of the variable over a short period of time depends exclusively on the value of the variable at the beginning of the period, not on its past history.

Stock prices are typically assumed to follow a Markov process.