An ask is the lowest price a seller is currently willing to accept for a contract, and the price you pay if you buy immediately.
Last reviewed 6 November 2025 · Educational, not advice
On a prediction market, every contract has two facing prices. The ask, sometimes called the offer, is the lowest price at which someone is currently willing to sell. The bid is the highest price at which someone is currently willing to buy. If you want to buy a contract right away, you do it by paying the ask, because that is the cheapest price a seller has posted. If you want to sell right away, you take the bid.
Because event contract prices sit between one and ninety nine cents, the ask is a number in that range, and it reads as an implied probability just like any price. An ask of fifty eight cents means the cheapest seller is offering the contract at a price the market reads as roughly a fifty eight percent chance, before fees. The ask is not a prediction that the event will happen. It is simply the price at which a trade can occur on the sell side of the book at this moment.
The gap between the best ask and the best bid is the spread. Because you usually buy at the ask and sell at the bid, you cross that spread when you trade, paying a little more to get in and receiving a little less to get out. A wide spread means a higher cost of trading, often a sign of a thin market, while a tight spread usually points to a more active, liquid one.
An ask is only firm for the size posted at it. A market page might show an attractive best ask with very little behind it. If you try to buy more than that size, your order moves up to the next ask level at a higher price, so your average cost is worse than the headline. Checking the size available at the ask, not just the price, tells you whether that price is real for the amount you want.
Asks are not fixed. Sellers add, change, and cancel their offers constantly, and new information can move the whole book in seconds. The best ask you see is a snapshot, not a guarantee, and it can be gone by the time you act. This is why a market order, which takes whatever ask is available, can fill at a different price than the one you last saw, especially in a fast or thin market.
A contract shows a best bid of fifty four cents and a best ask of fifty seven cents, so the spread is three cents. To buy straight away you pay fifty seven, the ask. Only twenty contracts are offered at fifty seven, with the next forty at fifty nine. If you buy fifty contracts with a market order, twenty fill at fifty seven and thirty at fifty nine, an average near fifty eight rather than the fifty seven you first saw. A limit order set at fifty seven would buy only the twenty available and wait for the rest.
Illustrative only. Numbers are examples, not a quote or a prediction, and exclude fees.
The ask is a price you can trade at, not a sign that an outcome will happen. Crossing the spread is a real cost, and prices can move against you. Prediction markets can lose you money. Stake only what you can afford to lose, never to chase a loss, and never on borrowed money. In the United States you can call or text the helpline on 1-800-GAMBLER or visit ncpgambling.org.
The ask, also called the offer, is the lowest price a seller is currently willing to accept for a contract. If you buy immediately, you pay the ask. It sits between one and ninety nine cents and reads as an implied probability, not a prediction.
The ask is the lowest price a seller will accept, and the bid is the highest price a buyer will pay. You usually buy at the ask and sell at the bid. The gap between them is the spread, which is a cost you cross when you trade.
An ask is only firm for the size posted at it. If your order is larger, it fills the next levels at higher prices, so your average cost is worse than the first ask. Asks also change constantly, so a market order can fill at a different price than the one you last saw.
No. The ask is just the current cheapest sell price, not a judgement that the outcome is likely or the price is fair. We never name a contract to buy or predict a result. It only tells you the price at which a purchase can happen now.
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