bid/ask price

[legion3pm]

say the market open and the asking price is 5.50 and the bid price is 5.00 and throughout the day the stock you bought goes up a quarter so now its 5.75. do you have to wait for the bid price to go up to 5.75 before you can actually sell at that price?

[whodi]

The bid is the highest amount the traders are willing to buy at that current time but if someone puts in a market order to buy, they will end up buying shares at the asking price and then the shares at 5.75 would be the 1st ones hit up. Market orders are the worst to do, especially with a spread like that large. If there is not a market order, then yes, the shares sitting at 5.75 will sit there until the bid starts moving up to those levels.

[legion3pm]

thanks whodi