Investing term
What is Order book?
The running list of every bid (offer to buy) and ask (offer to sell) waiting at an exchange, sorted by price.
The order book is the live, sorted list of every resting buy order (bid) and sell order (ask) at an exchange, organized by price. It's the raw supply and demand for a security, and trades happen when a buy and sell price meet. A deep order book means lots of orders at many prices — high liquidity; a thin one means prices can jump on small trades.
For example
A large market buy eats through several ask levels in a thin order book, filling at progressively higher prices — visible slippage as the book empties.
Order book is taught hands-on in Stage 5 — How Markets Work Globally.
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