What are Market Makers and Market Makers?

Market Makers

Exchanges often calculate the market value of an asset using an order book. This is where they collect all the buy and sell orders from their users. You can submit an instruction that looks something like this: Buy 800 BTC at $4,000, for example. This is added to the order book and will be filled when the price reaches $4,000.

Market Maker (Post Only) An order like this requires you to announce your intentions in advance by adding it to the order book. You are a market maker because you have, in a sense, "made" the market. The exchange is like a grocery store that charges individuals a fee to put merchandise on the shelves, and you are the person adding your own inventory.

It is common for large traders and institutions (such as those specializing in high-frequency trading) to assume the role of market makers. Alternatively, smaller traders can become manufacturers simply by placing certain types of orders that are not executed immediately.

Please note that using a limit order does not guarantee that your order will be a manufacturer order. If you want to ensure that the order enters the order book before it is filled, please select "Posting Only" when placing your order (currently available only on the web and desktop versions).

If we continue the store analogy, you are certainly putting your inventory on the shelves for someone to buy. That's someone taking. However, instead of taking cans of beans from the store, they are taking the liquidity you are providing.

Think about it: by placing an order on the order book, you increase the exchange's liquidity because you make it easier for users to buy or sell. On the other hand, a taker takes away some of that liquidity. With a market order—an instruction to buy or sell at the current market price—existing orders in the order book are executed immediately.

If you have already placed a market order on Binance or another cryptocurrency exchange, you acted as the taker. However, note that you can also be a taker by using limit orders.