Market Making

Overview

Market makers provide liquidity by quoting both sides of a market. You profit from the bid-ask spread while taking on inventory risk. Blink’s time-windowed markets and automatic settlement make this straightforward.

Basic Market Maker

The simplest approach: quote both sides around the midpoint with a fixed spread.

import time
from py_blink_client import ClobClient, OrderArgs, Side

client = ClobClient(
    host="https://api.blink15.com",
    key="0xYOUR_KEY",
)
client.create_or_derive_api_creds()

# Find an active market
markets = client.get_markets()
market = next(m for m in markets if m.status == "Active")

SPREAD = 0.04      # 4-cent spread
SIZE = 50           # 50 contracts per side
REFRESH_SEC = 5     # re-quote every 5 seconds

while True:
    mid = client.get_midpoint(market.yes_token_id)
    mid_price = float(mid["mid"])

    # Cancel stale orders
    client.cancel_all()

    # Quote both sides
    bid = round(mid_price - SPREAD / 2, 2)
    ask = round(mid_price + SPREAD / 2, 2)

    # Clamp to valid range
    bid = max(0.01, min(0.99, bid))
    ask = max(0.01, min(0.99, ask))

    orders = [
        OrderArgs(token_id=market.yes_token_id, side=Side.BUY, price=bid, size=SIZE),
        OrderArgs(token_id=market.yes_token_id, side=Side.SELL, price=ask, size=SIZE),
    ]
    client.create_and_post_orders(orders)
    print(f"Quoting: {bid} / {ask} (mid={mid_price})")

    time.sleep(REFRESH_SEC)

Multi-Level Quoting

Quote at multiple price levels to capture more volume:

LEVELS = 3        # 3 levels per side
LEVEL_GAP = 0.01  # 1 cent between levels
SIZE_PER_LEVEL = 30

orders = []
for i in range(LEVELS):
    offset = SPREAD / 2 + i * LEVEL_GAP
    orders.append(OrderArgs(
        token_id=token_id,
        side=Side.BUY,
        price=round(mid_price - offset, 2),
        size=SIZE_PER_LEVEL,
    ))
    orders.append(OrderArgs(
        token_id=token_id,
        side=Side.SELL,
        price=round(mid_price + offset, 2),
        size=SIZE_PER_LEVEL,
    ))

client.create_and_post_orders(orders)  # up to 10 per batch

Post-Only Orders

Use post_only=True to ensure your orders always provide liquidity (never take). This prevents crossing the spread and guarantees you earn the spread on every fill.

OrderArgs(
    token_id=token_id,
    side=Side.BUY,
    price=bid,
    size=SIZE,
    post_only=True,  # rejected if it would match immediately
)

Diff-Based Order Management

Instead of cancel-all + re-place (which causes orderbook flicker), compare desired orders against existing ones and only modify what changed:

This is a simplified example. A production market maker would handle additional concerns like token ID normalization and parallel execution.

def converge_orders(client, desired_orders, tolerance=0.005):
    """Only cancel/place orders that actually changed."""
    existing = client.get_orders()

    to_cancel = []
    to_place = list(desired_orders)

    for existing_order in existing:
        # Find a matching desired order (within tolerance)
        matched = False
        for i, desired in enumerate(to_place):
            if (desired.token_id == existing_order.token_id
                and desired.side == existing_order.side
                and abs(desired.price - float(existing_order.price)) < tolerance
                and abs(desired.size - int(existing_order.size_remaining)) < tolerance * 100):
                to_place.pop(i)  # already exists, keep it
                matched = True
                break
        if not matched:
            to_cancel.append(existing_order.id)

    if to_cancel:
        client.cancel_orders(to_cancel)
    if to_place:
        client.create_and_post_orders(to_place)

Real-Time with WebSocket

Use the Market WebSocket for live orderbook data instead of polling:

from py_blink_client import BlinkMarketWs, BlinkUserWs

best_bid = None
best_ask = None
inventory = 0  # net position

def on_snapshot(msg):
    global best_bid, best_ask
    if msg['bids']:
        best_bid = float(msg['bids'][0]['price'])
    if msg['asks']:
        best_ask = float(msg['asks'][0]['price'])

def on_order_fill(msg):
    global inventory
    if msg['side'] == 'BUY':
        inventory += int(msg['filled_size'])
    else:
        inventory -= int(msg['filled_size'])
    print(f"Fill! Inventory: {inventory}")

# Market data
market_ws = BlinkMarketWs("https://api.blink15.com")
market_ws.on_snapshot = on_snapshot
market_ws.start()
market_ws.subscribe([yes_token_id])

# Private fills
user_ws = BlinkUserWs("https://api.blink15.com", creds)
user_ws.on_order_fill = on_order_fill
user_ws.start()

Risk Management

Inventory Skew

Adjust quotes based on your position to reduce inventory risk:

# Skew towards reducing inventory
skew = inventory * 0.001  # 0.1 cent per contract
bid = round(mid_price - SPREAD / 2 - skew, 2)
ask = round(mid_price + SPREAD / 2 - skew, 2)

When you’re long (positive inventory), the skew makes your ask cheaper to encourage sells. When short, it makes your bid more aggressive to encourage buys.

Time Decay

As a market approaches its close time, widen the spread to account for increased uncertainty:

import datetime

time_remaining = (market.close_time - datetime.datetime.now()).total_seconds()
time_factor = max(1.0, 900 / max(time_remaining, 1))  # wider as close approaches
adjusted_spread = SPREAD * time_factor

Position Limits

Cap your maximum exposure per market:

MAX_INVENTORY = 500  # max 500 contracts net

if abs(inventory) >= MAX_INVENTORY:
    # Only quote the side that reduces inventory
    if inventory > 0:
        orders = [OrderArgs(..., side=Side.SELL, ...)]
    else:
        orders = [OrderArgs(..., side=Side.BUY, ...)]

Getting Started

Python SDK

Market Making

Market Making

Overview

Basic Market Maker

Multi-Level Quoting

Post-Only Orders

Diff-Based Order Management

Real-Time with WebSocket

Risk Management

Inventory Skew

Time Decay

Position Limits

What’s Next

GLFT Model

WebSocket Streams

​Overview

​Basic Market Maker

​Multi-Level Quoting

​Post-Only Orders

​Diff-Based Order Management

​Real-Time with WebSocket

​Risk Management

​Inventory Skew

​Time Decay

​Position Limits

​What’s Next

GLFT Model

WebSocket Streams

Overview

Basic Market Maker

Multi-Level Quoting

Post-Only Orders

Diff-Based Order Management

Real-Time with WebSocket

Risk Management

Inventory Skew

Time Decay

Position Limits

What’s Next