Hi Guys,
Can anyone tell me in simple terms, what the significance of the spread is?
What a very low or high spread in the bid/offer price means or should mean.
Very grateful for any reply.
Alan

Larger spreads are more common with smaller companies where the risk of gain/loss is greater. Very large companies such as FTSE 100 companies have the smallest spreads because they carry least risk. Don't always take for granted the size of the spread as seen on data boards. Check it out on a brokers' website as it will nearly always be smaller.
A company that I'm into is Alexander Mining (AXM)which is a new mining company which came to market two weeks ago. On the data boards it has a spread of 12% but checking the buy-sell prices on the web tells me that the spread is 3%.
Happy hunting!