Ask
An ask, also called an offer, is an offer to sell an asset at a specific price. All open asks form the sell side of an order book, and the lowest one is the best ask.
What an ask is
When a seller places a sell limit order, for example 3 coins at 101 USDC each, that order becomes an ask. It waits in the order book until a buyer takes it or the seller cancels it. Asks are sorted from the lowest price up, because the cheapest offer is the most attractive for buyers.
Why buyers pay the ask
If you buy with a market order, you buy from the asks, starting at the lowest price. Traders call this lifting the offer. The best ask is therefore the price you pay for an immediate purchase, while the best bid is what you would receive for an immediate sale.
The difference between the two is the bid-ask spread. It is a hidden cost of trading: buying at the ask and selling straight away at the bid loses the spread, even before fees.
An example
Say the ask side shows 100.2 for 2 coins, 100.6 for 5 coins and 101.5 for 10 coins. A market order for 5 coins takes 2 at 100.2 and 3 at 100.6, for an average of 100.44. The bigger your order relative to the volume on the ask side, the further it climbs up the levels.
Things to keep in mind
In small or illiquid markets the ask side can be thin, with big gaps between price levels. A large buy order can then move the price sharply, and you pay much more than the price you saw on screen. A buy limit order caps the price you pay, at the cost of possibly not being filled.
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Frequently asked questions
Is ask the same as offer?
Yes. Ask and offer mean the same thing: a standing order to sell at a stated price.
Why is the ask always higher than the bid?
If a bid were at or above an ask, the matching engine would execute them against each other at once. What remains in the book is always a gap, the spread.
What is the ask price in a crypto app without an order book?
Broker-style apps often quote a buy price and a sell price. The buy price works like an ask and usually includes a spread set by the provider.
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