Bid Price

In a market, buyers and sellers post the prices at which they are willing to trade. The bid is the best price currently offered by buyers. If you want to sell immediately, the bid price is roughly what you will receive.

For example, if a share's bid price is 49.95, a buyer somewhere is ready to purchase it at that price. If you place an order to sell at the market price, your shares will be sold at or near 49.95.

The bid price is always paired with an ask price, the lowest price a seller will accept. The ask is normally higher than the bid. If the ask for the same share is 50.05, someone wanting to buy immediately would pay around 50.05.

Bid prices change constantly as new buyers arrive, others leave and information affects demand. The same idea applies in currency markets, where a bank quotes a bid price at which it will buy a currency from you and a higher price at which it will sell to you.