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Bid Price

The bid price is the amount a buyer is willing to pay for a financial instrument. This article explains how the bid works in live quotes, how it differs from the ask, and why it’s important for trade entries and exits.

Radaba Polo avatar
Written by Radaba Polo
Updated over 2 weeks ago


What Is the Bid Price?

The Bid Price is the price you receive when selling a financial instrument.
It represents the highest price a buyer in the market is currently willing to pay for that instrument.

Think of it like the “buying side” of a negotiation, buyers quote how much they’re willing to spend, and sellers decide whether to accept that offer.

How It Works

In every live market quote, you’ll always see two prices:
Bid / Ask

  • Bid – The price where your sell orders are executed.

  • Ask – The price where your buy orders are executed.

Because buyers aim to pay less and sellers aim to sell higher, the Bid is usually lower than the Ask.

The small difference between them is known as the spread, which reflects part of your trading cost and market liquidity.


Example

Quote: GBPUSD 1.33747 / 1.33757

  • 1.33747 = Bid (Sell) Price

  • 1.33757 = Ask (Buy) Price

If you place a market sell order, it will execute at 1.33747, the Bid Price.

Why It Matters

  • Entry price for sells: All market sell and sell-stop orders are executed at the Bid.

  • Exit price for buys: When you close a buy (long) position, it closes at the Bid.

  • Stop-loss and take-profit: For buy trades, these levels trigger when the Bid reaches your set price, not the Ask.

    Tip: MT4/MT5 charts display Bid prices by default. If you want to see where your buy trades close, you can enable the Ask Line under chart settings.




    Related Articles: Ask Price

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