Also known as: ask price · asked prices · ask prices · ask · offered price
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An offering price in securities markets at which a seller is willing to sell a bond or other security. The asked price forms one side of the bid-ask spread that compensates dealers for facilitating trades.
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Alpine Mining seeks to sell corporate bonds in the secondary market. The dealer posts an asked price of 98 percent of par. A buyer accepts that price and the trade executes with the dealer retaining the spread as compensation rather than charging a separate commission.
Alliance Holdings holds Treasury notes and instructs its broker to sell at the prevailing asked price. The broker matches the order with a buyer willing to pay that exact figure, completing the sale and allowing the dealer to earn the difference between bid and asked levels.
Arcadia Retail decides to liquidate municipal bonds. The market maker lists an asked price reflecting current yields. A purchaser agrees to that price, the transaction settles, and the spread compensates the dealer for providing immediate liquidity without a separate fee.
The asked price is the price at which a seller offers to sell a security. The bid price is the price a buyer is willing to pay. The difference between them is the bid-ask spread earned by dealers.
Quoting prices as a percentage of par value allows direct comparison of bonds that have different face amounts. This standardization appears in the bond market pricing terminology.