Top Market Makers in Global Financial and Crypto Markets

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Market makers play a pivotal role in ensuring smooth, efficient, and liquid financial markets. By continuously quoting both buy (bid) and sell (ask) prices, they provide essential liquidity that allows investors to trade with confidence—even during periods of low natural demand or supply. In today’s fast-moving digital economy, their influence extends from traditional equities and ETFs to the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency space.

With nearly 14 years of experience as a market maker for token projects and crypto exchanges, our team has analyzed the landscape to bring you a comprehensive overview of the most prominent market makers operating globally. This guide explores key players, their strategies, reach, and impact—especially in the growing crypto market.

What Is a Market Maker?

A market maker is a firm or entity that facilitates trading by maintaining continuous bid and ask prices for financial instruments. Their core function is to ensure market liquidity, allowing traders to enter and exit positions without significant price slippage.

Market makers profit from the bid-ask spread—the difference between the price at which they buy and sell an asset. The tighter the spread, the more competitive and efficient the market becomes. In return for this service, they assume risk by holding inventory and managing exposure across volatile market conditions.

👉 Discover how professional liquidity solutions can stabilize your digital asset trading environment.

This role is critical in both traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi), where liquidity directly affects investor trust, trading volume, and long-term project sustainability.

Leading Global Market Makers

Empirica

Founded in 2013, Empirica is a global market maker and liquidity provider leveraging a proprietary trading system that processes millions of trades daily across stock and crypto markets. Connected to over 50 cryptocurrency exchanges, including major decentralized exchanges (DEXs), Empirica ensures seamless market access and deep liquidity.

The company's technology powers operations on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, ING, and Crédit Agricole. Since shifting focus to crypto in 2017, Empirica has refined its strategies using eight years of market data, now generating hundreds of millions USD in monthly organic volume for its partners.

Empirica specializes in helping Web3 projects and crypto exchanges enhance liquidity, reduce volatility, and attract institutional-grade trading activity.

Flow Traders

Headquartered in Amsterdam, Flow Traders was established in 2004 with an initial focus on Exchange Traded Products (ETPs). Over time, it expanded into fixed income, foreign exchange (FX), commodities, and digital assets.

Today, Flow Traders provides liquidity to nearly 8,000 ETPs worldwide and serves over 2,000 institutional clients, including hedge funds, banks, and pension funds. With more than 700 employees, the firm operates globally using high-frequency and quantitative trading strategies to maintain tight spreads and robust market depth.

Citadel Securities

One of the largest market-making firms globally, Citadel Securities was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Miami, USA. Active in over 50 countries, it serves as a designated market maker on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and facilitates trading across more than 100 venues.

The firm handles 22% of all US equity trading volume and operates on the top 15 equity exchanges, representing 88% of global market capitalization. With over 1,600 employees, Citadel Securities combines advanced technology with deep market expertise to ensure stability and efficiency.

DRW

Founded in 1992 in Chicago by Don Wilson, DRW began as an options trading firm and has evolved into a diversified market maker across ETFs, fixed income, commodities, currencies, and crypto assets.

Using algorithmic systems capable of executing up to 1,000 trades per second, DRW averages 1 million trades per day. The firm employs over 1,600 people and continues to expand its footprint in emerging digital asset markets.

Jane Street

A major global liquidity provider, Jane Street was founded in 1999 in New York. With offices in Hong Kong, London, Amsterdam, and Singapore, it prices and trades over 5,000 ETFs worldwide and operates on more than 200 electronic exchanges.

Jane Street has developed proprietary platforms like JCX (for digital assets), JX (equity trading), and its Wholesale Market Maker platform for US equities. With over 1,800 employees, it’s known for its cutting-edge quantitative research and technological innovation.

Optiver

Established in 1986 in Amsterdam, Optiver is one of the oldest market-making firms globally. Starting on the European Options Exchange (now Euronext), it has grown into a leader across multiple asset classes.

As of 2022, Optiver was an official liquidity provider on over 15 US exchanges and is the top market maker for Hong Kong Index and Single Stock Options. It serves over 6,000 counterparties in Europe and employs more than 1,800 professionals worldwide.

SIG (Susquehanna International Group)

Founded in 1987 and based in Pennsylvania, SIG is one of the largest proprietary trading firms globally. With over 2,700 employees across 14 offices, it trades across all listed asset classes—including Bitcoin.

SIG combines deep analytical rigor with advanced technology to deliver consistent liquidity across equities, options, fixed income, and digital assets.

Hudson River Trading (HRT)

Based in New York and founded in 2002, HRT is a quantitative trading firm active in over 200 markets globally. With more than 900 employees across six countries, HRT uses sophisticated algorithms to provide high-frequency liquidity across asset classes.

Tower Research

Founded in 1998 in New York, Tower Research is one of the pioneers in automated trading. With offices in Europe and Asia, it develops proprietary tech tools to implement quantitative strategies across diverse financial instruments. The firm employs over 1,100 people.

IMC Financial Markets

Established in 1989, IMC operates worldwide with over 1,600 employees across five offices. Active on more than 100 trading venues, IMC provides liquidity for over 200,000 assets, including bonds, equities, commodities, and currencies. It’s a key player on major exchanges like CME, NYSE Arca, CBOE, and NASDAQ.

Major Banks with Market-Making Operations

While independent firms dominate the space, several large financial institutions also operate significant market-making desks:

The Role of Market Makers in Crypto Markets

In cryptocurrency markets—where volatility can be extreme—market makers are essential for healthy ecosystem growth. They stabilize prices, deepen order books, and increase investor confidence.

👉 See how advanced liquidity algorithms can transform your project’s trading performance overnight.

For example, Empirica partnered with a globally recognized Web3 project listed on over 30 exchanges. Before engagement, price volatility reached 165%. After implementing tailored liquidity strategies, volatility dropped to under 9%, directly leading to a significant rise in trading volume.

“The stabilization of prices was reflected in an increase in volume.”
— Michal Rozanski, CEO at Empirica

Such results are common when professional market makers apply data-driven models to real-time trading dynamics.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What do market makers do in crypto?

Market makers provide continuous buy and sell orders for cryptocurrencies to ensure liquidity. This reduces slippage, stabilizes prices during high volatility, and encourages organic trading activity on both centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) platforms.

Why do new tokens need market makers?

New tokens often suffer from low liquidity and high volatility. A market maker helps create depth in order books or liquidity pools, making the asset more attractive to traders and investors by reducing price swings and improving execution quality.

How do market makers make money?

They earn profits from the bid-ask spread—the difference between the price at which they buy an asset and the higher price at which they sell it. While this margin may seem small per trade, high volumes allow them to generate substantial returns.

Are all market makers the same?

No. While some specialize in traditional assets like stocks or ETFs, others focus exclusively on digital assets. Firms vary widely in technology stack, geographic reach, exchange relationships, and strategy sophistication—especially regarding algorithmic trading.

Can market makers manipulate prices?

Reputable market makers operate within strict regulatory frameworks and aim to improve market efficiency—not manipulate prices. Their goal is to profit from spreads while maintaining fair and orderly markets. Unethical behavior is rare among established players due to compliance oversight.

How do I choose a crypto market maker?

Look for firms with proven experience on major CEXs and DEXs, strong technological infrastructure, transparent reporting, and a track record of reducing volatility while increasing organic volume. Case studies and client references are valuable indicators.

👉 Get connected with a trusted liquidity partner who delivers measurable results.

Core Keywords

With automation reshaping the industry, employee count alone no longer defines scale—but technological edge and strategic reach do. Whether you're launching a token or scaling an exchange, partnering with experienced market makers can make all the difference.