Basis is a financial term which refers to the accepted value of a service or commodity at a given moment, or the value at which something can be purchased at a given time. The basis value for a dollar, for example, is always a dollar. Basis is most commonly used as a yardstick for measuring differences in price. If the accepted price of a given commodity is $100, then a price of $105 for the same commodity is five percent higher than basis.

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