
These differences between the market price and the bid-ask price are known as spreads, and this is the profit that market makers earn for trades executed by market takers. Investors who want to add an asset to their portfolio need to pay the ask price, usually slightly higher than the market price. Traders that want to offload an asset into the market would have the trade executed at the bid price, usually slightly lower than the market price. Makers maintain the quotes for the bid-ask prices as well. They charge a spread on both the buy and sell price of the assetfor which liquidity is provided. Market makers usually transact on both sides of the market.

While the brokerage houses compete against each other, the specialists ensure that bids and asks are reported correctly and posted. Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas, and Deutsche Bank are market makers in global equities markets. A DMM is often hired by the security issuer to “make the market,” i.e., provide depth and liquidity. A specific market maker could be simultaneously making markets for hundreds of assets at the same time. DMMs on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) are known as specialists. These market makers are responsible for maintaining the price feeds and quotes and facilitating any buy and sell transactions for that asset. There is also the concept of a designated market maker (DMM), where the exchange selects a primary market for a specific asset traded. The market allows the market makers to profit from the spread as they take on the risk of holding the assets since its value could decline between the purchase by the market maker and the sale to another buyer. Traditionally, large brokerage firms are the most common market makers that offer investors asset purchase and sale solutions. They act as liquidity and depth providersfor the market in exchange for being able to profit from the bid-ask spread on various orders in the exchange’s order book. Market makers are individual participants or member firms of an exchange that trades in securities for their own account. The equivalent of trading pairs usually found on centralized exchanges is l iquidity pools for DEXs. AMMs eliminate the need for centralized exchanges and traditional market-making techniques that could sometimes lead to price manipulations and liquidity crises. In the cryptocurrency markets, as a part of the decentralized finance ( DeFi) ecosystem, there is the concept of automated market makers (AMMs) which is the underlying protocol that powers all the decentralized exchanges ( DEXs). Since exchanges often utilize an order bookto manage various trading pairs, these market participants ensure that the order book functions fairly and transparently. These two entities are the lifeblood of any crypto exchange, and it is their presence (or rather the lack of it) that differentiates a strong, robust exchange from a weak exchange. The concept of a market maker and market taker within the cryptocurrency marketsremains the same as in the marketplaces for traditional financial assets like equities, commodities, and foreign exchange (Forex).

Source What is a Market Maker and Market Taker in Crypto? Although even smaller retail investors can be market makers by placing orders that aren’t executed immediately, such as limit orders, the most prominent market makers are large financial institutions like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, The Vanguard Group, Blackrock, and Fidelity Investments, amongst others. Essentially, there is a high demand from traders who want to own the asset and there is a high supply from traders that want to sell the asset. A market with high liquidity is one where assets can be bought and sold with ease at a fair value. Market liquidity is one of the most important aspects of a highly efficient market. Every trading participant in the market falls under one of these two categories. These two types of traders operating in tandem ensure the markets function in a fair and transparent manner, with the assets listed on various exchanges having ample liquidity.
