Bid-Ask Spread

The difference between the highest price a buyer will pay (bid) and the lowest price a seller will accept (ask) for a security — a key measure of liquidity and an implicit trading cost.

Go deeper

This term comes up constantly in trading & markets interviews and on the desk.

Interview guides

Related Trading & Markets terms

Go further than reading

The written material is free. These are the ways to get it applied to your own work.

Browse the full glossary — 150+ finance recruiting and technical terms, in plain English.