The conventional command and control based spectrum management has led to substantial underutilization of some spectrum bands while severely crowding others due to the uneven and dynamic needs that vary over time and at different locations. Spectrum trading has emerged as a promising management approach to substantially improve spectrum utilization and user experience in wireless communications by taking advantage of market-based mechanisms. This article presents an overview of spectrum trading, including the fundamental characteristics of spectrum trading markets, the state-of-the-art techniques for modeling and resolving various spectrum trading issues, and trading based dynamic spectrum sharing and access. Moreover, some open issues in spectrum trading are identified for future research in this area.