What is bid and asked in purchasing stocks?

When buying stocks what is the difference between and bid and asked price?

bid is how much you will get if you sell your stock (lower value), while ask is how much you'll pay to buy the stock(higher value). the difference is the spread. when the spread is wide, it indicates the stock is volatile.

Bid: Is the price someone is willing to pay to buy the stock.
Ask: Is the price someone is willing to accept to sell their stock.

If these two are ever the same or "crossed", then the market executes the sale and shows the next highest bid and the next lowest ask, which are now no longer the same.

If you enter an order to purchase without specifying a bid price, the market will pick off the ones at the current ask price for you. If you want more than the "ask size," then it will move on the next lowest price and keep picking off stocks until it satisfies your order. In low-liquidity stocks, this stepping up the price can hurt -- in a low-liquidity stock, always specify a limit bid price even if it's above the current market bid.

If you enter an order to sell without specifying an asking price, the market will sell to the current bids. If you are selling more than the "bid size", then it will pick off as many bids as are available at the current bid price, then move on to the next highest bid and keep filling bids till your stock is gone. Again, if you're selling a low-liquidity stock, enter a minimum ask even if it's below the current market to guard against this step-down.

Stocks are a two-sided auction. No sale takes place unless the buyer is happy with the ask price and the seller is happy with the bid.

There's supposed to be a "market maker," an agent who ensures that there are at least some bids that are vaguely close to the current market price. During the flash crash three weeks ago, these guys stepped aside as the market fell apart.

Its been answered above accurately.

Here is a list of trading terms and their meanings that can be very helpful to traders http://www.thepennystockblog.com/glossary.html

Bid = what someone is willing to pay
Ask = price at which someone is willing to sell
Spread = Ask - Bid

You will often see a quote like 15.23/15.27 3x10

That means that someone is willing to buy at least 300 shares at 15.23. They might be willing to buy more, but have chosen to display 300. Someone else is willing to sell 1000 shares at 15.27

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