If a trader placed a buy order, a dealer may offer a better ask price than the previous ask to earn the trader’s business. The midquote of the quoted bid and ask prices is $40.445. The effective spread for this buy order would then be calculated as: 2 × ($40.47 - $40.445) = $0.05, which is 4 cents better than the quoted spread of $0.09 ($40.40 - $40.49). |