markup

Markup

The difference between an investment's lowest current offering price among dealers and the higher price a dealer charges a customer. Markups occur when dealers act as principals (buying and selling securities from their own accounts, at their own risk), as opposed to brokers (receiving a fee for facilitating a transaction).

Notes:

Certain securities are available for purchase by retail investors from dealers who sell the securities directly from their own accounts. The dealer's only compensation for the sale comes in the form of the markup, the difference between the price the security was purchased at and the price the dealer charges to the retail investor. The dealer assumes some risk by acting in this capacity, as the market price of the security in his or her inventory could drop before he/she is able to sell to investors.

Note that most dealers are also brokers, and vice versa, so the term broker-dealer is common.

See also: Ask, Bid, Broker-Dealer, Demand, Markdown, Principal, Retail Investor, Security, Spread, Supply

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markup

1. An upward revaluation of a security by a dealer because of a rise in the security's market price. For example, a dealer may decide that a markup on a security issue held in inventory is appropriate because of a rising stock market. Compare markdown.

2. See spread.

3. The difference between the price charged by a dealer to a retail customer and the prevailing price at which the same security is being offered by market makers. Compare markdown.