Source: https://mochatrade.com/learn/glossary/bid-ask-spread

# Bid-ask spread
URL: https://mochatrade.com/learn/glossary/bid-ask-spread
Last modified: 2026-10-17

The bid-ask spread is the gap between the best price to sell (bid) and the best price to buy (ask). Buy at the ask, sell at the bid, and you are down the spread before anything moves. It shrank from about six cents to one when [US prices went decimal in 2001](https://mochatrade.com/learn/us-market-structure/us-stock-market-explained), it is [what the market maker earns for the seconds before his hedge](https://mochatrade.com/learn/us-market-structure/who-moves-us-stocks), and when it widens with no news, [that is the news](https://mochatrade.com/blog/mocha-markets-weekly-dec). [Spreads and fees on Mochatrade](https://mochatrade.com/support/mochatrade-trading-fees-and-funding-rates-explained).

## Related terms

- Market maker: https://mochatrade.com/learn/glossary/market-maker
- Short selling: https://mochatrade.com/learn/glossary/short-selling
- Hard to borrow: https://mochatrade.com/learn/glossary/hard-to-borrow
- Order book: https://mochatrade.com/learn/glossary/order-book
- Long and short position: https://mochatrade.com/learn/glossary/long-and-short-position
- PCE: https://mochatrade.com/learn/glossary/pce

Educational content only. Not investment advice. Leveraged products magnify losses as well as gains.