Market Making and Liquidity Provision › Key Parameters

Michael BrenndoerferDecember 31, 20251 min read
Quantitative FinanceAll chapters
Part 12 of 15Market Making and High-Frequency Trading
Chapter 65Market Making and Liquidity Provision › Key Parameters
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The key parameters for the market making simulation are:

  • S0: Initial mid price. The starting point for the asset price simulation. This anchors all price calculations and determines the dollar value of positions.
  • σ: Annualized volatility (sigma). Higher volatility increases inventory risk and widens spreads. This parameter must be estimated from recent market data and updated regularly.
  • γ: Risk aversion parameter (gamma). Controls how aggressively you adjust quotes to manage inventory. Higher values lead to more aggressive inventory management but potentially less competitive quotes.
  • k: Order book density. Determines how quickly the probability of a fill decays as quotes move away from the mid price. This parameter captures market-specific characteristics of order flow.
  • A: Baseline arrival rate (lambda_base). The expected number of orders per unit time when quoting at the mid price. This sets the overall activity level of the simulation.