Crossed Market

Crossed market

In the context of general equities, happens when the inside market consists of a highest bid price that is higher than the lowest offer price. See: Overlap the market.

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crossed market

A situation in which one market maker's ask price for a security is lower than another market maker's bid price for the same security.

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Crossed Market

A situation in which the bid for a security exceeds the ask. That is, a crossed market occurs when the highest price that a buyer is willing to pay is higher than the lowest price a seller is willing to take. This is fairly unusual and characterizes a highly volatile security. A crossed market is most common on NASDAQ when orders are entered before the opening.

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Crossed market. A market in a particular stock or option is described as crossed when a bid to buy that stock or option is higher than the offer to sell it, or when an offer to sell is lower than a bid to buy.

A crossed market reverses the normal relationship of a stock quotation in which the bid price is always lower than the ask price. It's illegal for market makers to cross a market deliberately.

A crossed market may occur when investors place after-hours orders electronically for execution at opening, or when investors trade directly through an electronic communications network (ECN).

NASD has introduced a set of pre-opening procedures for market makers on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They help prevent the confusion and potential inequalities in pricing that a crossed market can produce.