The spread is the cost of instant execution. Tight spreads (a penny or two on major stocks) mean cheap trading; wide spreads on illiquid securities can add meaningfully to costs.
Placing limit orders instead of market orders lets you name your price and often gets executed inside the spread.
Practice this in Aurora
See a plain-English bull/bear/bias breakdown on any stock — no signup needed.
Open Decision Lab →Frequently asked questions
Why are pre-market spreads wider?
Fewer participants and less depth. Trading outside regular hours often means paying more for the same execution.