The price at which investors are currently willing to buy shares listed on a stock exchange is called the:

• A. A bid price.
• B. B offer price.
• C. C spread price.
• D. D uniform price.

Answer: (A)

The bid price is the price at which investors are willing to buy shares right now. It represents the highest price buyers are prepared to pay, and the best bid is the top of the buy-side quotes. In practice, if you want to sell immediately, you’d typically receive the bid price, while buyers hit the ask (offer) price to buy. The difference between the bid and the offer is the bid–ask spread. The offer price is what sellers are asking to receive, not what buyers are willing to pay. The term spread price isn’t a standard descriptor for quotes, and uniform price refers to different auction contexts, not ordinary stock trading.