firm quote

Here is the surprising bit. Most prices you hear in everyday Nigerian life are not promises, they are opening offers. The market woman who tells you okra is ₦500 a basket may still add ₦100 once she sees you are in a hurry. But in stocks and investing, there is a version of a price that is not up for that kind of last minute wobble, and it has a name that sounds almost too plain for what it does.

A firm quote is a price a dealer or broker gives you that they are obligated to honour, at least up to a certain quantity, the moment you say yes. No haggling, no sudden change of mind, no we sold that batch already. If a stockbroker in Lagos quotes you ₦42 per share for Zenith Bank and says it is firm for 5,000 shares, that price stands the second you confirm the trade, not after they check with someone else or wait to see if the market moves in their favour.

This matters because the alternative exists too, and it is called an indicative quote. That one is more like the market woman's opening price, a guide, not a commitment. Someone in London trading through an online platform will notice the same split, some prices flash as firm and executable, others are just estimates that update before your click even lands.

Think about a Nigerian in Manchester sending money home to invest through a local brokerage app. If the app shows a firm quote for a stock, what you see is close to what you get. If it only shows an indicative price, the number by the time your order clears could have drifted, and that gap is exactly what firm quotes exist to close.

The whole point of a firm quote is trust with a deadline. It only holds for a moment, and usually only for a set size of shares, but within that window, it is as good as a handshake in writing.