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The Bid price I've always taken it to mean the price market participants are willing to buy at. Therefore if I want to go sell shares I would sell it at the bid. Opposite way around for the ask.

That's how all trading platforms I've used historical have worked.

I've moved to a new platform and they have it as I buy at the bid and sell at the ask. Am I missing something obvious here, it seems weird to me??

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  • Either you're missing something or they have a flaw in their documentation. If you can buy at the bid and sell at the ask you can generate risk-free profit all day long.
    – D Stanley
    May 20, 2020 at 12:27
  • Your understanding of buying at the ask and selling at the bid is correct. I'd suggest that you double check your understanding of how it works on your new platform and if your take is still correct, I'd start wondering about the new platform. Is it a regulated US broker?
    – Bob Baerker
    May 20, 2020 at 12:27
  • Exactly. I'm slightly confused by it. It could just be that their highlight is weird or something. I'll dig into their documentation.
    – Mathlearner
    May 20, 2020 at 12:27
  • So I think it must select the correct prices but from the docs: "To place a Buy order, click on the cell in the Bid Size column that corresponds to the price at which you want to buy" EDIT: I think i just figured it out. It's because it is showing the same price and then just Bid and Ask volume for that fixed price.
    – Mathlearner
    May 20, 2020 at 13:11
  • I don't think much of a platform that uses such a convoluted description of how to buy and to sell. And even with your explanation of clicking "on the cell in the Bid Size column that corresponds to the price at which you want to buy", it's still convoluted and still doesn't make sense. What broker is this?
    – Bob Baerker
    May 20, 2020 at 14:42

1 Answer 1

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It's very common that forex or CFD brokers use this kind of "trick" to earn the fork or spread of prices from customers. If your broker uses an MT4 platform this is always true. This means each time you open a trade you are already losing the spread of prices from Bid to Ask plus the commission.

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    The bid/ask spread isn't a trick.
    – Bob Baerker
    May 21, 2020 at 12:06

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