The larger of the numbers, the ask, is the lowest current price at which a seller is willing to sell shares. The difference between the bid and the ask is called the spread. There will almost always be a spread that is greater than zero because if a buyer and a seller meet in the middle at a particular price, the trade is executed. The other important metric that is usually included on the quote page is volume. Volume is the total number of shares of a stock that have been traded in the market that day.
