Trading the US market
Bid
Definition
The highest price a buyer will pay right now. A market sell order generally fills at or near it.
Example
Say a stock shows a bid of $25.40 for 300 shares, with the last trade at $25.45. If you sell 300 shares with a market order, you get about $25.40, not the $25.45 you saw, which is $15 less in total. Sell 1,000 shares instead, and the 700 shares beyond the bid size may fill at lower bids.
Hypothetical numbers, for illustration only.
Also defined in
- Order Types Explained: Market vs Limit Order, Stop and Stop-Limit Orders→ Bid, ask and spread: the prices behind every order
- Trading Glossary: Stock Trading Terms Explained→ Order types and execution terms
- Order Flow Trading: Delta, Footprint Charts and Absorption→ Aggressive market orders vs passive limit orders
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