Bid
The highest price a buyer is currently willing to pay for an asset.
Also called: bid price · best bid
In plain language
Every market is really two prices at once. The bid is the buying side: the best price someone has publicly committed to pay right now.
If you want to sell immediately, the bid is the price you get. You are not selling at "the price" you see quoted on a news site — you are selling into whatever buyer is standing closest to the market.
Bids sit in the order book stacked by price. The best bid is the top of that stack, and behind it are lower bids waiting in line.
Seen on a chart
Why it matters
The bid is half of your real entry and exit cost. A trade plan built on the last traded price rather than the bid and ask will consistently miss by the width of the spread.
Common mistakes
- Assuming you can sell at the last traded price. You sell at the bid.
- Ignoring how much size sits at the bid. A large sell order can eat through it and fill far worse than expected.
Keep exploring
These concepts are connected. Understanding one usually makes the next one easier.
The lowest price a seller is currently willing to accept for an asset.
The gap between the bid and the ask — the built-in cost of entering a trade.
How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price.
The live list of all resting buy and sell orders at each price level.
The difference between the price you expected and the price you actually got.