Askkoers

Askkoers is a term used in Dutch financial markets to denote the asking price at which a seller is prepared to offer a financial instrument for sale. It forms one side of the prevailing bid-ask quote, with the other side being the bidkoers, the price buyers are willing to pay. The difference between the askkoers and the bidkoers is called the bid-ask spread, which reflects liquidity, market efficiency, and risk.

The askkoers represents the price at which market participants can potentially buy a security at that moment. In practice, buyers often transact at the askkoers when using market orders, while sellers transact at the bidkoers for market orders. Limit orders can specify a maximum purchase price or a minimum sale price, and such orders may only execute if the market moves to those levels or better.

Factors influencing the askkoers include liquidity and depth of the order book, volatility, time of day, and the presence of market makers or liquidity providers. In highly liquid markets, the spread tends to be narrow, and the askkoers closely tracks the last traded price. In illiquid or volatile conditions, the askkoers can widen, and price discovery may be more fragmented, especially for small-cap stocks, bonds, or exotic instruments.

The term is commonly used across asset classes, including equities, bonds, currencies, and derivatives, and is displayed on trading platforms alongside the bidkoers as part of real-time price quotes.