A bid price is the highest price that a buyer (i.e., bidder) is willing to pay for a good. It is usually referred to simply as the "bid."
In bid and ask, the bid price stands in contrast to the ask price or "offer", and the difference between the two is called the bid/ask spread.
An unsolicited bid or purchase offer is when a person or company receives a bid even though they are not looking to sell. A bidding war is said to occur when a large number of bids are placed in rapid succession by two or more entities, especially when the price paid is much greater than the ask price, or greater than the first bid in the case of unsolicited bidding.
In the context of stock trading on a stock exchange, the bid price is the highest price a buyer of a stock is willing to pay for a share of that given stock. The bid price displayed in most quote services is the highest bid price in the market. The ask or offer price on the other hand is the lowest price a seller of a particular stock is willing to sell a share of that given stock. The ask or offer price displayed is the lowest ask/offer price in the market (Stock market).
Famous quotes containing the words bid and/or price:
“The moment the very name of Ireland is mentioned, the English seem to bid adieu to common feeling, common prudence, and common sense, and to act with the barbarity of tyrants, and the fatuity of idiots.”
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845)
“Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits. Let the most beautiful or the swiftest have it. That should be the “going” price of apples.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)