Bid and ask price

The prices buyers offer and sellers accept for an asset.

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What are bid and ask prices?

The bid price is the most a buyer is currently willing to pay for an asset, and the ask price is the least a seller is willing to accept. A trade happens when these two meet.

How they work

On an exchange, many bids and asks sit together in the order book. The highest bid and lowest ask set the current market around which trades take place, and the gap between them is the spread.

Related terms

The gap between the highest buy price and the lowest sell price.

Profiting from price differences for the same asset across markets.

A set of rules that lets software applications share data and interact, often used to connect trading tools to an exchange.

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Your Luno app makes investing straightforward, with a clear and intuitive app experience we know you’ll love.