Bid-Ask Spread
Volume Spread Analysis glossary · Effort vs Result & Spread/Close Analysis
Definition
The difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept (ask). In VSA, the spread of the price bar (high minus low) is a key input reflecting the range of trading activity and market-maker positioning during that period.
Bid-Ask Spread in plain English
At any moment, the highest price a buyer will pay (the bid) is a little below the lowest price a seller will accept (the ask), and the gap between them is the bid-ask spread — basically the small toll you pay to trade instantly. It's like a currency-exchange booth that buys dollars cheap and sells them dear, pocketing the difference. In VSA, though, "spread" more often means the height of a price bar (its high minus its low), which shows how much ground price covered in that period — a wide spread signals lots of activity, a narrow one signals little.
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