Mid price
Definition · Level 0 · Market basics
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The halfway point between the best bid and the best offer: a fair estimate of the price, though you usually cannot trade exactly at it.
Example
49.98 × 50.02 has a mid of 50.00.
Where Tradecraft teaches it
Level 0 · Market basics, in the lesson “Reading the quote”: Bid, offer, size, spread and mid: the price you will really pay.
Related terms
- Bid / offerThe highest price a buyer is currently showing, and the lowest price a seller is asking (also called the ask).
- Bid-ask spreadAsk minus bid: the price of trading right now.
- Last pricePrice of the most recent trade (the print).
- Market orderAn instruction to buy or sell immediately at the best available prices: execution is near-certain, the price is not.
- NBBONational best bid and offer: the highest bid and lowest offer across all US exchanges at a given moment, the benchmark for judging whether a broker…
- Tick sizeThe minimum price increment a security can be quoted in: one cent for US stocks at $1 or more.