Skip to content
Vetted Exchanges
Best exchangesReviewsCompareFeesBy countryBonuses

Glossary

Spread

The gap between the best price a buyer will pay and the best price a seller will accept. You cross it on every trade, and it is a cost even when the fee is zero.

By Vetted Exchanges Editorial Team

At any moment an order book has a highest bid and a lowest ask. The distance between them is the spread. When you buy at market you pay the ask; if you sold straight back you would receive the bid; the spread is what you lost in between. On a deep book for a major pair it is a fraction of a basis point. On a thin book for a small altcoin it can be several percent — more than the trading fee by a wide margin.

This is why a headline fee is not the price of an exchange. A venue that charges zero maker fees but runs thin books can cost more per trade than one charging 0.10% with deep ones. It is also why simple "instant buy" widgets are expensive: they quote a single price with the spread built in, and the spread is set by the exchange rather than by competing traders.

Our liquidity sub-score is, in practice, a spread score for the pairs most people trade. It is weighted heavily in the futures and altcoin rankings because that is where thin books hurt most, and lightly in the beginners ranking because a first $200 purchase in bitcoin is not where spreads bite.

Where this shows up

Frequently asked questions

Is the spread the same as a fee?

No, but it is a cost. The fee goes to the exchange; the spread goes to whoever was on the other side of your trade. Both come out of your result.

How do I see the spread before trading?

Open the order book or the pro trading view and compare the top bid and the top ask. Simple buy widgets hide it, which is one reason to avoid them.

Related terms and pages

Related terms

  • Slippage

    The difference between the price you expected and the price your order actually filled at, caused by the order eating through the book.

  • Maker and taker fees

    The two trading fees an exchange charges: a lower maker fee for orders that add liquidity to the book, a higher taker fee for orders that remove it.

  • Limit order vs market order

    A market order fills now at whatever price the book offers; a limit order fills only at your price or better, or not at all.