Ask Price Meaning

Jul 17, 2023 | Updated Jul 19, 2023

An ask price is the lowest amount at which a seller is willing to sell an asset such as a stock, bond, or cryptocurrency.

What is Ask Price?

To complete a trade on a cryptocurrency exchange, there needs to be both a buyer and a seller. Every buyer looks to get the lowest possible price when buying a cryptocurrency, while every seller wants to sell for the highest price possible. The lowest price that is acceptable for the seller to sell is the ask price. When initiating an order, the buyer’s price needs to match the ask price of the seller for the transaction to be successful.

In contrast to the ask price, the bid price is the highest amount that a buyer is willing to pay for an asset. In the crypto market, the bid and ask prices are displayed on exchanges. Together, they form the order book. Buyers and sellers can pick orders that match their prices from this trading order book. The bid price is usually lower than the ask price, and the disparity between both is known as the bid-ask spread.