The offer is the seller's price:another name for the ask, precise.
Another term for the ask price: the price at which a seller is willing to sell a currency pair.
The offer is the price you pay when entering a long (buy) position.
In plain words
The offer is the price at which the market is prepared to sell to you; it is another name for the ask. It is the higher of the two prices in a quote, and it is the price paid when buying.
See it move
Spread: the distance between Offer (ask) and Bid
Why it matters
Every quote has two sides: a trader buys at the offer and sells at the bid, the lower price. The distance between them, the spread, is a cost paid on every round trip.
Worked example
An example only. The figures are round and invented for the arithmetic: they are not market prices.
A pair is quoted at 1.2500 bid and 1.2503 offer; a trader buys one standard lot and sells it at once with the quote unchanged.
- 1Buy at the offer1.2503
- 2Sell at the bid1.2500
- 3Difference1.2503 − 1.2500 = 0.0003, or 3 pips
- 43 × 10 = 30 units of the quote currency
The round trip costs 30 units of the quote currency, the spread, without the market having moved.
A common mistake
A chart usually draws only one of the two prices, commonly the bid. A buy is executed at the offer, which sits above that line by the width of the spread.
Check yourself
Educational information, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade.