the Bid and Ask prices differ, so if you bought at 9.70 that same share may only sell for maybe 9.55-9.65 at that same moment, which is why you start at a loss with every position.
Some stocks like Bank of America can have a spread that is basically 0 so both the bid and ask are the same, but most stocks will have a gap. this spread will fluctuate and differ across industries and sectors and how popular or volatile a particular share is during trading hours.
And can I check the spread before i buy? Seems kinda huge 1.75%
the spreads can be larger than that for lower-volume shares.
If you scroll to the bottom of the page on the mobile app you can look in the “instrument details” section to see the live bid and ask prices.
You’d be surprised for low volume shares 