Spread

In its simplest form, the difference between the bid and ask price of a security, also called the bid-ask spread. Liquid stocks like Apple might have a spread of just one cent, while thinly traded penny stocks can have spreads of several percent. The term also refers to options strategies involving multiple legs (bull call spread, iron condor), the yield difference between two bonds (credit spread), and the price gap between related commodities (crack spread, crush spread).