Ask Price

In detail

Every forex quote has two sides. The ask (sometimes called the "offer") is the higher of the two numbers and represents the price a liquidity provider is willing to accept to sell the base currency. When you click "Buy" on a platform, you are taking that offer, so your long position opens at the ask.

The ask is always above the bid price. The gap between them is the spread, which is how many dealers and brokers are compensated for providing a two-way price.

Which side of the quote you use

A simple rule helps avoid confusion:

This also explains why sell orders such as a stop-loss on a short position are triggered by the ask, not the bid. Many charts plot only the bid, so a short trade can be stopped out even though the visible candle never touched the stop level. That happens when the spread widens.

Example

Assume GBP/USD is quoted at 1.2640/1.2643 (illustrative). You buy 1 mini lot (10,000 units) at the ask of 1.2643. If the price did not move at all and you closed immediately at the bid of 1.2640, you would lose 3 pips. On a mini lot of a USD-quoted pair, one pip is worth $1, so the cost is about $3.

Why it matters

The ask determines your real entry price on every long trade. When you plan entries, targets and risk, measure them from the price you will actually get, not the mid-price or the bid shown on the chart. During thin markets or major news releases the ask can jump away from the bid, which raises the cost of buying. The Bid and Ask Prices lesson covers this in more depth.