what is a bid price 
a bid price is a price for which somebody is willing to buy something whether it be a security asset commodity service or contract it is colloquially known as a bid in many markets and jurisdictions generally a bid is lower than an offered price or ask price which is the price at which people are willing to sell the difference between the two prices is called a bid ask spread bids are made continuously by market makers for a security and may also be made in cases where a seller requests a price where they can sell sometimes a buyer will present a bid even if a seller is not actively looking to sell in which case it is considered an unsolicited bid understanding bid pricesthe bid price is the amount of money a buyer is willing to pay for a security it is contrasted with the sell ask or offer price which is the amount a seller is willing to sell a security for the difference between these two prices is referred to as the spread the spread is how market makers mms derive profits thus the higher the spread is the greater the profit bid prices are often specifically designed to exact a desirable outcome from the entity making the bid for example if the ask price of a good is forty dollars and a buyer wants to pay thirty dollars for the good they might make a bid of twenty dollars and appear to compromise and give up something by agreeing to meet in the middle exactly where they wanted to be in the first place 