What It Costs to Trade a Stock, Measured
The one-cent floor: share price, percent of quotes exactly one cent wide, and what a penny costs in bpstable ·
2026-08-22 · 5×6
NVDA vs SOXS: median quoted spread over the window, with the smallest single-session gapscalar ·
2026-08-22 · 1×50.89
NVDA vs SOXS: median quoted spread by session (bps of the midpoint)series ·
2026-08-22 · 5×4
The cost-to-trade ladder: median quoted spread in bps of the midpoint, regular hours, recent completed sessionstable ·
2026-08-22 · 12×5
What Is a Bid-Ask Spread? Real Costs
Typical quoted spread: six liquid names vs. two thin small caps, with the 100-share costranking ·
2026-08-22 · 8×4
AAPL median quoted spread by 30-minute bucket (ET, extended hours included)series ·
2026-08-22 · 32×2
The same curve at four checkpoints: premarket, the open, midday, the closeseries ·
2026-08-22 · 4×2
AAPL: the last recorded NBBO quote in our data windowscalar ·
2026-08-22 · 1×70.117
Paper Trading Before Real Money
One session shape: median quoted spread by half-hour bucket, Ford (F), recent completed sessionsseries ·
2026-08-22 · 13×3
Five years of sessions: share closing above the open, typical move, and the extremes (SPY, 2021-2025)table ·
2026-08-22 · 5×6
What a real fill costs: median quoted spread in bps of the midpoint, regular hours, recent completed sessionsranking ·
2026-08-22 · 6×4
How Do Market Makers Make Money? The Spread
US stock venues: public exchanges vs off-exchange reporting facilitiesranking ·
2026-08-22 · 2×3
AAPL trades by venue, latest session: off-exchange firstranking ·
2026-08-22 · 19×4
Average quoted spread: liquid mega-caps vs a thin small-cap (past week)ranking ·
2026-08-22 · 3×4
AAPL average quoted spread by half-hour (ET), one extended sessionseries ·
2026-08-22 · 32×2
AAPL: NBBO quote updates on the latest sessionscalar ·
2026-08-22 · 1×41.2
How Much Does It Cost to Trade Options?
Options trade size distribution on July 2, 2026 (whole-tape contracts per print)scalar ·
2026-08-14 · 1×41
SPY options vs. SPY stock on one session: quote count, trade count, and median quoted spreadscalar ·
2026-08-14 · 1×10462.93M
SPY options quoted-spread distribution: percentiles in basis pointsscalar ·
2026-08-14 · 1×635.51
SPY options quote quality: valid, one-sided, and locked/crossed recordsscalar ·
2026-08-14 · 1×7463.20M
SPY options median spread by expiration date, near-the-money strikes onlyranking ·
2026-08-14 · 25×4
Options bid-ask spreads by product: median basis points, July 2, 2026 regular hoursranking ·
2026-08-14 · 5×4
Why Are Spreads Wider at the Open? Real Data
Window guard: the UTC session filter maps to a 9:30 a.m. ET start on both ends of the rolling windowscalar ·
2026-08-08 · 1×2570
Share of quote updates at the one-cent minimum spread, by half hour (regular hours, ET)series ·
2026-08-08 · 13×4
Median spread each half hour, as a multiple of each name's tightest bucket (regular hours, ET)series ·
2026-08-08 · 13×4
Session by session: how often, and by how much, the open ran wider than middaytable ·
2026-08-08 · 3×6
Median quoted spread by phase of the trading day, in basis points (ET clock)ranking ·
2026-08-08 · 5×4
The opening premium priced: median and 90th-percentile spread at the open (9:30-10:00 ET) vs. midday (12:00-14:00 ET)table ·
2026-08-08 · 3×12
MU: median quoted spread by half hour on July 7, 2026 (ET, regular hours)series ·
2026-08-08 · 13×5
MU into July 7, 2026: prior regular-session close, opening print, overnight gapscalar ·
2026-08-08 · 1×3984.31
The one-cent floor: share price, percent of quotes exactly one cent wide, and what a penny costs in bps
The one-cent floor: share price, percent of quotes exactly one cent wide, and what a penny costs in bps
| ticker | typical_share_price | pct_quotes_at_one_cent | one_cent_in_bps | typical_spread_bps | dist_from_floor_bps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPY | 773.45 | 37.4 | 0.13 | 0.26 | 0.13 |
| AAPL | 304.95 | 16.9 | 0.33 | 0.98 | 0.65 |
| KO | 87.6 | 64 | 1.14 | 1.15 | 0.01 |
| SOXS | 40.17 | 76.8 | 2.49 | 2.55 | 0.06 |
| F | 13.98 | 99.3 | 7.15 | 7.16 | 0.01 |
the exact SQL behind every number
SELECT ticker,
typical_share_price,
pct_quotes_at_one_cent,
round(100 / typical_share_price, 2) AS one_cent_in_bps,
typical_spread_bps,
round(abs(typical_spread_bps - 100 / typical_share_price), 2) AS dist_from_floor_bps
FROM (
SELECT ticker,
round(quantileExactIf(0.5)((toFloat64(ask_price) + toFloat64(bid_price)) / 2, bid_price > 0 AND ask_price > bid_price), 2) AS typical_share_price,
round(100 * countIf(bid_price > 0 AND ask_price > bid_price AND abs(toFloat64(ask_price - bid_price) - 0.01) < 0.001) / countIf(bid_price > 0 AND ask_price > bid_price), 1) AS pct_quotes_at_one_cent,
round(quantileExactIf(0.5)(toFloat64(ask_price - bid_price) / (toFloat64(ask_price + bid_price) / 2), bid_price > 0 AND ask_price > bid_price) * 10000, 2) AS typical_spread_bps
FROM global_markets.cache_stocks_quotes
WHERE ticker IN ('SPY', 'AAPL', 'KO', 'F', 'SOXS')
AND sip_timestamp >= toDateTime(today() - 10)
AND sip_timestamp < toDateTime(today() - 3)
AND (toHour(sip_timestamp) * 60 + toMinute(sip_timestamp)) BETWEEN 810 AND 1199
GROUP BY ticker
)
ORDER BY typical_share_price DESC
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