Bid

A bid is the price a prospective buyer is willing to pay for an asset, together with the quantity they want at that price. On an order book, bids populate the buy side, and the highest of them is called the “best bid”—the most anyone is currently offering.

A bid becomes a trade only when it meets a matching sell order at or below its price. Bids sit below the lowest ask, and the gap between them is the spread. A common misconception is that placing a bid guarantees a purchase—it only executes if a seller accepts that price or the market moves to meet it.