Price action in crypto is often reduced to sentiment and speculation. However, behind the visible charts lies an intricate infrastructure—algorithmic, behavioral, and architectural—driven by professional market makers (MMs). These entities play a critical role in shaping liquidity, maintaining trust, and managing volatility in real-time.
This article outlines essential insights for developers involved in building or maintaining Web3 infrastructure, particularly in environments where liquidity provisioning and price stability are non-negotiable.
What Happens Behind the Price Chart
1. Market Making as Behavioral Infrastructure
Modern market makers do more than just narrow bid-ask spreads. They operate at the behavioral layer of market infrastructure. Consistent, tight spreads signal reliability to both traders and data aggregators, enhancing perceived trustworthiness. This positive signal attracts additional trading volume and strengthens network effects.
2. DeFi and the Rise of Algorithmic Snipers
With decentralized exchanges (DEXs) enabling protocol-level access to liquidity, launch events are now targeted by bots executing within the first block of availability. A newer practice—“friendly sniping”—has emerged, where controlled buys are placed in advance to stabilize early volatility and foster accurate price discovery.
3. Stablecoin Pair Risk Management
In volatile events, such as a temporary depeg (e.g., USDC trading at $0.90 in a USDC/USDT pair), a well-equipped MM may choose to manually hold the peg instead of reacting to panic. This strategy depends on issuer relationships (e.g., with Circle) and robust internal risk models.
The Technical Stack of Professional Market Makers
Direct Exchange Access
Professional MMs integrate directly with exchanges via FIX protocol or WebSocket, prioritizing ultra-low-latency order execution. These interfaces outperform standard HTTP endpoints in terms of speed, reliability, and order placement priority.
Latency-Sensitive Market Making Programs
Leading exchanges such as WhiteBIT, Bybit, and OKX offer specialized MM programs that include:
- Reduced fees
- Co-located infrastructure
- Priority API endpoints
These benefits are essential for maintaining efficient and consistent order books across multiple markets.
Multi-Exchange Liquidity Placement
Professional MMs operate algorithmically across multiple trading pairs and exchanges. This creates synthetic depth, minimizes arbitrage gaps, and stabilizes spreads without disrupting organic trading behavior.
How to Vet a Reliable Market Maker
Ask for Transparent Metrics
Request performance reports showing earnings independent of token incentives. Profit-sharing agreements should be based on demonstrated market performance, not token drain.
Evaluate Connection Methods
If the MM cannot explain the difference between HTTP, WebSocket, and FIX, or relies solely on high-latency APIs, it’s a concern.
Review the Contract Structure
Avoid contracts that allow access to more than 15% of your token supply, especially those based on loans. Prefer retainer-based or performance-based profit-sharing models to align incentives.
Why Community Remains Fundamental
Even with robust infrastructure, market behavior is ultimately driven by people. That’s why community engagement, education, and transparency continue to be key components of any successful token strategy.
"A good project must demonstrate that it's building value with the community, not off the community. You have to explain the 'why' and the 'how,' not just the 'what'. A committed community behaves like a dedicated guild or club—it drives activity and protects the market."
— Mark Lesiuk, Co-founder of Kumeka Team
Final Thoughts
Market making has evolved into a multidisciplinary field combining infrastructure engineering, quantitative finance, and behavioral modeling.
For founders and teams planning token launches or relisting campaigns, the following components are now essential:
- A professional MM partner with infrastructure-grade tools
- Latency-optimized APIs with FIX or WebSocket integration
- A structured approach to community trust and education
Infrastructure builds stability. Community sustains it.
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