What Is the Role of a Market Maker in Setting the Bid-Offer Spread for a Financial Derivative?

A market maker provides liquidity by simultaneously quoting both a bid (buy) and an offer (sell) price for a derivative. The spread between these two prices is their potential profit margin for taking on the risk of holding the asset temporarily.

They aim to keep the spread wide enough to cover their costs and risk, but narrow enough to attract trades.

What Is the Role of a Market Maker in Narrowing the Bid-Ask Spread?
What Is the Concept of ‘Liquidity Premium’ and How Does It Factor into Quote Size Decisions?
How Does a Market maker’S’inventory Skew’ Affect Their Willingness to Quote a Tighter Bid or a Tighter Offer?
What Is the Role of a Market Maker in Maintaining the Bid-Offer Spread?
What Is the Concept of “Adverse Selection” for a Market Maker in Derivatives Trading?
How Does the Presence of Market Makers Enhance Liquidity in Standardized Options?
Why Do Market Makers Prefer to Trade at the Bid or Ask Rather than the Mid-Price?
How Is the Risk Taken by a Market Maker Compensated through the Spread?

Glossar