If one uses an online brokerage, or like my bank which offers me 100 free trades per year and I thus have no broker, who gets the spread?


The market maker gets the spread.

See also this article.

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The person on the other side of the trade "gets" the spread. The spread isn't a fee, it's a difference in the price.

The spread is the difference between the price the buyers are willing to buy at and the sellers are willing to sell at. If the price was the same, everyone would have already traded.

Think about it like buying a house. The seller of the house lists it at $100,000 and you make an offer to buy it for $95,000. The spread is $5,000. If the seller accepts your offer, you "get" the spread (they came to your price). If they reject your offer, and you decide to buy it at a price of $100,000, they "get" the spread, since you came to their price.

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Spread is the difference between the bid price and the ask price. The traders on the floor get the spread whether you pay an additional broker fee or not.

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