Why do I sometimes see buy prices higher than sell prices in the morning before market opens?
During the pre open phase, buyers and sellers are allowed to enter their orders onto the market. However trades are not automatically matched until the market opens. So you may see a scenario where buy and sell prices overlap. Once the market opens, the opening price for each security is calculated using the auction algorithm. Buyers bidding above the opening price will buy at the opening price and sellers offering their shares below the opening price will sell at the opening price.
