As it happens with every other financial product, inside the Forex trading we could find the basis concepts of ‘bid’ or ‘ask’ – inquiry – and ‘offer’ – supply -.

‘Bid’ stands for the price paid for the base currency by the Forex operator, which is usually exchanged with a currency ‘counter’.

‘Offer’ stands for the price the Forex operator sells the base currency, getting some ‘counter’ currency as payment.

In each currency couple the base currency plays the prime role, while the ‘counter currency’ plays in a secondary place. For instance in the couple EUR/USD, the Euro represents the base currency while the US Dollar is the quoted currency (currency counter).

The spread is the difference between the price of the inquiry and the price of  the offer. The speads have different value according to the different couples of currency quoted and could also vary from broker to broker. This value represents what the broker will get as payment for his activity. The broker entitled to negotiate the transaction will be the market-maker of the exchange itself.

the market-maker is a market operator who deals with sale and purchasing proposals for determined quantities of titles. Every market – operator interested in the offer should negotiate with the first market maker.