Bid and ask: why is your buy price always a bit higher?
Every quote has two prices. You buy at the ask and sell at the bid, and the gap between them is the spread — which is why a position starts slightly in the red the moment it opens.
A question many beginners never ask out loud: if you bought at the ask, does the position close at the bid? What happens to the spread when you close?
The bid, ask and slippage guide explains both prices and what happens when the market moves between your click and your fill.
Background: Bid, ask and slippage: why your order fills at a different price
Why buy trades open at one price and close at another, why a stop can trigger when the chart never touched it, and how slippage happens.
Why did my stop-loss trigger when the price on the chart didn't reach it?
Charts usually show the bid price, but a sell position's stop is triggered by the ask. If the spread widened, the ask could have touched your stop while the bid line stayed away from it.
What is slippage?
The difference between the price you expected and the price your order was filled at. It is most common in fast or thin markets, such as around news releases.
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