Spot Market
What is spot market? The spot market is the short-term load market where freight prices float load-by-load, posted on load boards and negotiated within hours.
Full definition
Spot rates respond to supply and demand within days. They spike during produce season, hurricane recovery, and Q4 peak; they crater during freight recessions and off-season weeks.
Spot is the natural environment for owner-operators and small fleets without dedicated contracts. The upside is rate flexibility; the downside is volatility — spot can pay 30% above contract rate in a tight market and 30% below in a loose one.
Factoring volume tracks the spot market closely because spot loads run through brokers, who pay on 30-60 day terms.