What is spread on Pluang?
Spread is the difference between the highest price a buyer in the market is willing to pay for an asset (the bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept (the ask). When you buy, your order trades against the ask side; when you sell, it trades against the bid side, so the gap between the two is a cost built into every buy-and-sell round trip. For example, if Bitcoin's bid is US$29,950 and its ask is US$30,000, the spread is US$50. On Pluang, the spread is reflected in the buy and sell prices shown before you confirm a transaction, rather than billed as a separate line, and it is separate from any transaction fee. Spreads are not fixed: they widen and narrow with liquidity, volatility, the type of asset and the size of your order. Your portfolio values what you hold at the mid price, halfway between the bid and the ask.
Worked example
| Asset | Bid (highest buy offer) | Ask (lowest sell offer) | Mid price | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (BTC) | US$29,950 | US$30,000 | US$29,975 | US$50 |
As a percentage, that spread is US$50 ÷ US$30,000, or about 0.17% of the price.
- Buying and selling sit on opposite sides. A buy order is matched with sellers at the ask, and a sell order with buyers at the bid. If you bought and immediately sold the same amount, you would receive less than you paid by roughly the spread, before any fees.
- Crypto uses a floating spread. On Pluang, crypto trades carry a floating spread that varies with the asset's liquidity, market volatility, market conditions and transaction volume. It applies to both market orders and advanced orders.
- The portfolio uses the mid price. Your holdings and unrealised profit or loss are valued at the mid price, not at the price you could sell at right now. That is why a new position can show a small unrealised loss straight after you buy.
Related questions:
Q: Is the spread a fee that Pluang charges?
The spread is not billed as a separate charge. It is the gap between the buy price and the sell price, and it is already reflected in the prices you see in the app before you confirm a transaction. Transaction fees are a different item and are shown separately where they apply. Because both affect what a trade costs you, check the buy price, sell price and fee breakdown shown before you confirm an order.
Q: Why does my portfolio show a small loss right after I buy?
Because your portfolio values the asset at the mid price, while you bought at the higher ask side of the spread. Straight after the purchase, the mid price sits below the price you paid by about half the spread, and any fees on the purchase widen that gap further. The small unrealised loss this creates is normal; it narrows or turns into a profit if the price moves in your favour.
Q: What is the mid price?
The mid price is the midpoint between the bid and the ask — in the Bitcoin example, halfway between US$29,950 and US$30,000, which is US$29,975. Pluang uses it as a neutral reference price to value your holdings and calculate unrealised profit or loss in the portfolio. It is not a price you trade at: buy orders fill at the ask side and sell orders at the bid side.
Q: Is the spread the same for every asset?
No. Widely traded, highly liquid assets usually have narrow spreads, while less widely traded or newly listed assets usually have wider ones, because fewer buyers and sellers are quoting prices close together. The spread on the same asset also changes over time with market activity and volatility, and a large order can face a wider effective spread than a small one. The prices shown before you confirm always reflect the spread at that moment.