What is a tight spread in trading?

• A. A small difference between the buying and selling price
• B. A large difference between bid and ask
• C. No difference between prices
• D. A negative spread that guarantees profit

Answer: (A)

A tight spread means the gap between the bid and the ask is small. The bid is what buyers are willing to pay, and the ask is what sellers want to receive. When these two prices are close, entering and exiting trades costs less because you’re not paying a large premium to buy or a large discount to sell. This indicates strong liquidity and active participation from market makers, which is why tight spreads are desirable for traders, especially for quick or frequent trades. The other notions describe scenarios that aren’t typical: a large difference is a wide spread and signals higher trading costs and lower liquidity; no difference would be a zero spread which is rare in real markets; a negative spread would imply an impossible situation where you could profit just by placing a trade, which doesn’t occur in normal markets.