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A continuous martingale is a continuous-time martingale whose paths are continuous outside one null event. Continuity does not remove the integrability or conditional-expectation requirements in the martingale definition.

Write ${\delta }_n=2^{-n}$ and let $Q_n(U)$ denote the printed squared-increment sum for a process $U$, on grid times $k{\delta }_n$. We construct its limit first for bounded martingales, then use localizing sequences and the finite variation part of a semimartingale.

Continuity and monotonicity of the bounded-martingale limit. Let $U$ be a uniformly bounded continuous martingale. The given result supplies a limit $R^U$ in uniform convergence on compacts in probability. Each $Q_n(U)$ is continuous and adapted. A subsequence converges almost surely uniformly on each compact time interval, by choosing summable error probabilities and diagonalizing. Its limit therefore has a continuous version; in the usual completed filtration this version is adapted.

The sums $Q_n(U)$ themselves can decrease between grid points, because the last partial increment is being squared. To establish monotonicity, use instead the quadratic variation from completed grid incrementsThese step processes are nondecreasing, and pathwise uniform continuity giveswhere ${\omega }_U(\delta ;T)=\sup \{|U_t-U_s|:s,t\le T,|t-s|\le \delta \}$. Thus the same almost surely uniform subsequence of $S_n$ converges to $R^U$, proving that $R^U$ is nondecreasing. Also $R_0^U=0$.

Localization of a continuous local martingale. Subtract the initial value, which does not affect increments, so that $M_0=0$. SetContinuity gives ${\tau }_m\uparrow \infty$ almost surely and makes $M^{{\tau }_m}$ bounded. The bounded local martingale criterion makes it a true martingale. Let $R^m$ be its continuous, adapted, nondecreasing limit.

The discrete sums commute exactly with stopping:For $\ell \le m$, uniqueness of the probability limit and stability of uniform convergence on compacts in probability under stopping giveup to indistinguishability. Taking a common null set for the countably many pairs, patch these processes into $R^M$ by setting $R_t^M=R_t^m$ when $t\le {\tau }_m$. Compatibility makes this definition independent of $m$. It is continuous, adapted, and nondecreasing. For each $T,\epsilon >0$,Let $n\to \infty$ and then $m\to \infty$. This proves the localization and patching of quadratic variation.

Adding finite variation. Decompose the continuous semimartingale as $X=X_0+M+A$, where $M$ is a continuous local martingale starting at zero and $A$ is continuous, adapted, and locally of finite variation. For every compact interval, the sum of the absolute increments of $A$ is at most its total variation of a function. Hence, pathwise,The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality bounds the mixed increment sum byThe first factor is bounded in probability, since $Q_n(M)\to R^M$ uniformly on compacts in probability; the second tends to zero almost surely. Thus the mixed term tends to zero in probability. Expanding the square provesThe constructed $R=R^M$ is continuous, nondecreasing, and adapted. This is the quadratic variation of $X$, and expresses the fact that finite-variation terms do not change quadratic variation.

A continuous martingale is an adapted process with almost surely continuous paths, $\mathbb{E}|M_t|<\infty$ for every $t$, andA continuous local martingale is continuous and adapted and has a localizing sequence of stopping times $T_n\uparrow \infty$ almost surely such that every $M_t^{T_n}=M_{t\wedge T_n}$ is a true martingale. The initial value is normally integrable; the frequently used class ${\mathcal{M}}_{c,\mathrm{loc}}$ is normalized to start at zero.

The usual conditions for a filtration are completeness and right continuity. Completeness means that ${\mathcal{F}}_0$ contains every subset of each $\mathbb{P}$-null set in the ambient $\mathcal{F}$; right continuity means ${\mathcal{F}}_t={\bigcap }_{u>t}{\mathcal{F}}_u$. These conditions concern the filtered probability space, whereas continuity of a martingale concerns its sample paths.

A martingale whose values over its whole time interval form a uniformly integrable family has an integrable terminal limit and is closed by that limit. Conversely, conditional expectations of an integrable terminal variable form a uniformly integrable martingale, by uniform integrability of conditional expectations. For continuous martingales, one may equivalently use uniform integrability of the family stopped at finite stopping times.