What Does The Bid & Ask Mean? (Investing In The Stock Market)

When looking at a stock quote, you will typically see a stock’s current price, volume, and the bid and ask prices. Often investors attempt to buy or sell a stock, focusing solely on the stock’s current price. They place an order at the stock’s current price and become confused about why their buy or sell order isn’t executing. This is primarily due to the investor not paying attention to the Bid and Ask prices. The stock’s current price seems straightforward enough, but what do the bid and ask mean and why are they important?

In this video, we teach you what are the bid and ask prices and where they come from. We also will teach you about the bid and ask size number and bid-ask spread.

Also, learn about how market makers are involved with the bid and ask of a stock.

Want to start investing today?

Want to invest, but like someone else to manage it for you?

[JW_CC]

Best explanation I've come across! I've watched a few videos about why and what bid/ask is!

[kunalberserker]

Was watching plenty of videos/reading articles on this topic.... This video absolutely made it all clear.... Thanks man

[stonks]

I love this kind of informational videos. Clear and understandable for beginners because of the animation😃👍

[techleanghorng]

Tf bro. I am 6 years into this and got hooked by this video😂

[nubcops]

This has cleared the confusion so much honestly thank you so much. I'll comeback after a month or maybe a year to see where I was and where I am in the future pray for me lol.

[rafaelgomez]

Very HELPFUL and great ANIMATION ..CLEAR explanation !

[avimehenwal]

best excplaination, best content, and best narration. 5+5/5 quality video.
Very high quality stuff, thankyou for sharing

[SaItyToad]

So that means when I buy a stock, I'm actually paying the "Ask"-price, not the "normal" stock price I'm seeing first when I look up a stock?

[ilanflix]

most accurate explanation of the concept, great video and thanks for the upload !

[skaterdudeb]

2:42 How is that different from scalping or trading in general?

[FilipinaHustler]

I was so confused, so the BID= Price you can sell at and ASK = Price you can buy at ?

[Uriah]

So what does the market pice (ticker price) mean?

Say the “ask” is $1.28
Say the “bid” is $1.25
Say the “market price” is $1.21

Where does that $1.21 come from?

[xanbeth]

Ahh the voice from voice from Kurzgesagt, funny to see you here.

[skaterdudeb]

So bids & asks are calculated from Limit orders only, correct? What if a seller sells a share through a market order to a buyer that bought through a market order, what price is it sold at? the market price? (as opposed to a bid or ask price)

[JennyOwnzable]

This made lots of sense! Thanks! I'm just starting to learn.

[arnavaakash]

If bid and ask prices are different, how are stocks getting bought and sold, since the max one is ready to buy for is always less than min amount for one is ready to sell for?

[teacheraladdin]

I learned a lot from this video, but I have a question maybe I still don't understand the point, if there is a difference between bid and ask more than 1$, what is the limitation of still liquidity?

[leoalphaproductions]

Wow! That was very easy to understand. Thank you!

[tomrobertson]

I'm confused about the bid - ask spread. I've heard that it is the market maker's profit and that it is just the natural way the market works. I was recently watching a market and there were far more buyers and sellers at the bid and ask prices than there was trading. The bid was approximately 358.05, the ask was approximately 358.1, there were approximately 1000 buyers and sellers at the bid and ask prices, and 100 shares were sold. At what price were those shares sold? Did a market maker buy them at 358.05 and sell them at 358.1? Did all the buyers and sellers at the bid and ask prices make limit orders, so that the only way a transaction could be made is for someone to make a market order or a limit order at the bid or ask price, which would mean that a seller would sell at 358.05 and a buyer would buy at 358.1? My question boils down to wondering if, in effect, a limit order doesn't pay the bid - ask spread but a market order does.

[deliagrowen]

So basically ask is where you buy and bid is where you sell?