How Does a Market Maker Respond to a Sudden Influx of Large, One-Sided Orders?

A sudden influx of large, one-sided orders (e.g. all buy orders) forces the market maker to quickly sell from their inventory to meet demand, which unbalances their position and increases inventory risk. Their immediate response is to widen the bid-offer spread to slow down the order flow and increase their profit margin.

Simultaneously, they will attempt to hedge their newly unbalanced position in other markets.