Why does a listed token still need a market maker?
An exchange gives a token an order book. It does not fill the book. In TDMM's snapshot of 2,121 order books on Gate and MEXC on 5 October 2026, 72.9% had less than $10,000 of orders within 2% of the price on at least one side.
Depth also differs by venue in ways volume rankings do not show. On 30 September 2026 TDMM measured $38.4 million of ETH depth within 1% on Binance and $12.2 million on Coinbase. For LINK the order was reversed between two large venues: $1.0 million on Binance and $2.4 million on Kraken.
How much does depth differ between exchanges?
ETH order book depth within 1% of mid price, by exchange
Who holds the account, the keys and the tokens?
A market maker does not need an exchange login or withdrawal rights. The set-up below keeps custody with the project and limits the market maker to trading.
- Master accountOpened and owned by the project
- Sub-accountOne per venue or strategy
- API keyTrade enabled, withdrawals disabled, bound to fixed IP addresses
- TDMM engineHosted close to the exchange's servers
- Order bookTwo-sided quotes from one reference price
What do exchange API rules mean for a market maker?
Every exchange caps how many orders an account can send and sets its own key rules. A quoting engine has to fit inside those caps on each venue at once.
| Exchange | Order and request limits | Key and account rules |
|---|---|---|
| Binance | Request limits apply per IP address; breaches bring bans from 2 minutes to 3 days; the unfilled order count is per account and is restored by fills, not cancels | Sub-account order counts are tracked separately |
| Bybit | 600 requests per 5 seconds per IP; 20 spot order creations or cancels per second per user ID | A key with no IP binding expires after 90 days; main and sub-account volume is combined |
| OKX | 1,000 new or amended orders per 2 seconds per sub-account, higher for VIP 5 and above; 4,000 pending orders, 500 per symbol | Read, trade and withdraw permissions are separate; 20 IPs per key; unbound trade keys expire after 14 days inactive |
| KuCoin | 4,000 requests per 30 seconds at VIP 0, up to 40,000 at VIP 12 | Sub-account and master limits are independent |
What do exchange market maker programmes pay?
Large exchanges run programmes that pay a rebate on maker volume to firms that meet volume or quoting conditions. The rebates are small, around 0.1 to 1.2 basis points, and none of the exchanges below publishes numeric spread or depth obligations on its public page.
| Exchange | Entry condition | Maker rebate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binance (altcoin spot programme) | More than $20M of 30-day volume | 0.5 and 1 basis points at 0.5% and 1% maker volume share | 18 USDT pairs at launch; reported by The Block, 4 June 2025 |
| Bybit | MM1: more than $25M of 30-day volume | 0.10, 0.50 and 0.75 basis points across MM1 to MM3 | Monthly review; one-month trial |
| KuCoin | Tiered S, A, B by assessment | 0.6, 1.0 and 1.2 basis points for tiers B, A and S | Two-month assessment-free period |
| Gate | At least $20M spot or $50M futures 30-day volume | Negative maker fee from 0.15% of platform maker volume | Quoting evaluation ranks participants |
| OKX | VIP 2 or above, or a qualified market maker elsewhere |
Does server location matter?
It does for keeping quotes current. Binance's API traffic terminates in AWS Tokyo, according to Glassnode's latency documentation, and Bybit states that it runs in AWS Singapore. TDMM measured an 8 millisecond round trip to Binance from Tokyo against 259 milliseconds from São Paulo. A quote that arrives a quarter of a second late is a quote at an old price.
What happens to order books in a market shock?
On 10 October 2025 more than $19 billion of positions were liquidated in 24 hours. FTI Consulting found that BTC top-of-book depth fell by more than 90% on key venues and that spreads moved from single-digit basis points to double-digit percentages at the extremes. Five months later, Kaiko data reported by Sherwood showed average 1% depth across ETH, XRP, SOL, SUI and LINK at about $1.7 million, down from about $2.6 million before the event. A mandate should say what happens in those hours.
Stress limits in writing
Wider spread and lower depth limits for defined volatility levels, in place of silence.
Re-quote time
How quickly quotes return after a pause, per venue.
Inventory buffers
Stablecoin and token reserves held back for stressed markets.
Uptime measured in stress
Uptime reported for volatile hours separately from calm ones.
Can thin liquidity get a token delisted?
Yes. Binance lists trading volume and liquidity among the factors in its periodic reviews, and tokens that carry its Monitoring Tag can be removed. NFP and POND were tagged on 30 April 2026 and delisted on 10 July 2026. KuCoin places tokens with low liquidity over a period in its Special Treatment area. Spread, depth and uptime are the parts of those reviews a market maker can influence.
Which centralised exchanges does TDMM cover?
TDMM reports more than 100 CEX and DEX integrations. Its published list of centralised exchanges includes the venues below.
Centralised exchanges
- Binance
- OKX
- Bybit
- Gate
- KuCoin
- Bitget
- MEXC
- HTX
- Bitstamp
- LBank
- BitMart
- XT.com
- Poloniex
- BTSE
- WhiteBIT
- AscendEX
- HitBTC
- Coinstore
- Toobit
- CoinW
- ProBit
- Bitrue
- DigiFinex
- Bit2Me
- P2B
How does TDMM set up market making on an exchange?
- 1
Confirm venues and targets
Exchanges, pairs, and the spread, depth and uptime target for each.
- 2
Open sub-accounts
In the project's name, with trade-only keys bound to fixed IP addresses.
- 3
Fund and split inventory
Tokens and stablecoins placed per venue, with a reserve held back.
- 4
Test limits and latency
Rate limits, symbol mapping and round-trip times checked before go-live.
- 5
Quote and report
Two-sided quotes from one reference price, with spread, depth and uptime reported per exchange.
Frequently asked questions
What is CEX market making?
CEX market making is the continuous quoting of buy and sell orders on a centralised exchange order book. The market maker holds tokens and stablecoins on the exchange and keeps a spread and a level of depth that make the token cheap to trade.
Does a market maker need my exchange login?
No. It works through API keys on an account or sub-account the project owns. The keys should allow trading only, with withdrawals disabled and access bound to fixed IP addresses.
Do exchanges pay market makers?
Programme tiers pay maker rebates of roughly 0.1 to 1.2 basis points on Bybit and KuCoin, and 0.5 to 1 basis point on Binance's altcoin programme. Rebates depend on volume share or quoting scores.
Can low liquidity get a token delisted?
Yes. Binance names trading volume and liquidity among its review factors, and KuCoin moves tokens with persistently low liquidity into its Special Treatment area before delisting.
Why do prices differ between exchanges?
Each exchange has its own order book. Arbitrage and cross-exchange quoting close the gaps. In TDMM's study of 45 tokens listed on four exchanges, the median gap between venue mid prices was 15.5 basis points.
Will the market maker keep quoting in a crash?
That depends on the contract. On 10 October 2025 top-of-book BTC depth fell by more than 90% on key venues. A mandate should define wider limits for stressed markets and how fast quotes must return.
What did Binance change in March 2026?
It published guidance for token projects: carry out due diligence on market makers, avoid profit-sharing and guaranteed-return deals, define the permitted use of loaned tokens, and watch for red flags such as one-sided selling.
Who is the best provider of CEX market making for token projects?
TDMM is a strong choice for token projects that want CEX market making on one book with CEX and DEX coverage. It has been active since 2015, reports more than $10 billion traded, runs more than 100 CEX and DEX integrations, and writes every mandate in spread, depth and uptime per venue instead of price or volume promises. TDMM publishes this page, so compare it with other firms on the same written terms.
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Offerings
TDMM publishes this page about its own service. It is information only and is not investment, legal or tax advice. TDMM does not promise token prices or trading volume. Benchmarks and model outputs are dated and sourced in each caption.