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Opinion

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Why Great Market Makers Are Strategic Partners

Great market makers do more than provide liquidity—they’re strategic partners

Following our last article on How Do You Measure the Efficiency of a Market Maker, it's worth digging deeper into what truly defines great market making.

That’s where professional market makers come in—not as short-term price optimizers, but as strategic partners committed to your long-term success.

Let’s explore why the best market makers don’t thrive on chaos—they succeed when the ecosystem around them does.

🤝 Market Making Is a Long-Term Game

The top-tier market makers don’t chase volatility or arbitrage opportunities at the expense of the project. Instead, they act as stabilizers and growth enablers, aligning their incentives with those of the token foundations and exchanges they work with.

A market maker’s role isn’t just to participate in a market—it’s to nurture it, make it more attractive to others, and support it through early and late stages of growth.

🔁 Sustainable Liquidity = Sustainable Value

Liquidity isn’t just a volume number—it’s an engine for adoption. Here’s how it works:

  • A healthy order book gives traders confidence they can enter or exit positions at fair prices.
  • This attracts real users, not just bots or opportunistic traders.
  • Real users create organic volume, which improves price discovery, increases market confidence, and accelerates network effects.

In this cycle, good liquidity fuels more activity, which in turn strengthens the value and credibility of the project or platform.

📉 Lower Volatility Helps Everyone

Crypto markets are naturally volatile—but too much volatility, especially from shallow books or price gaps, drives participants away.

Good market makers reduce slippage, dampen price swings, and help maintain order book stability, even in turbulent times. This improves the experience for:

  • Retail investors who want smoother execution
  • Institutions that demand predictability and scale
  • Foundations that want price integrity and sustainable token economics

When volatility is better managed, more participants feel safe entering the market—and that’s a win for everyone.

📊 Aligned Incentives Are Everything

One of the most misunderstood aspects of market making is incentive structure. Contrary to outdated perceptions, the best market makers don’t profit from short-term chaos—they win when you win.

Why? Because their revenue is directly tied to:

  • The volume of activity in your token or platform
  • The depth and health of the order book
  • The long-term credibility and success of the ecosystem

In short: they grow when you grow.

✅ Liquidity. ✅ Credibility. ✅ Trust.

These aren’t separate goals—they are compounding outcomes of working with the right market maker.

If you're launching a token, running an exchange, or scaling a platform, don’t just look for someone who can plug in liquidity. Look for a partner who shares your long-term vision and has the tech, discipline, and alignment to make it real.

Want to talk about how Portofino supports growth-focused projects with institutional-grade market making?
📩 Get in touch with us here.

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Published on 19.06.2025

Taym has 10+ years of experience leading high frequency trading operations. Prior to joining Portofino in 2021, Taym headed the systematic trading team in European equities, futures, and options at Citadel Securities. He holds an MSc in Applied Mathematics from École Polytechnique and an MSc in Mathematics in Finance from New York University.

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