> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.polymarket.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Market Making > Guidance for operating a market-making system on Polymarket. A market maker (MM) provides liquidity by continuously posting bids and asks. By quoting both sides of a market, market makers make it easier for other traders to execute while seeking to earn the spread in exchange for the risks they take. On Polymarket, market makers deepen order books, tighten spreads, support price discovery, and absorb trading flow as market conditions change. Building a product that routes orders for its users? See the [Builder Program](/programs/builders/overview). This page is for traders providing liquidity from their own account. ## Set Up for Market Making Complete these account-level requirements before quoting a market. Create or connect the wallet that will hold funds, positions, and orders, then authenticate the integration. See [Wallets and Authentication](/trading/wallets-auth) for the supported workflows. The wallet needs pUSD on Polygon before it can trade. To deposit another supported asset or transfer funds from another network, use the [Bridge](/trading/bridge/deposit). Authorize the contracts required to trade outcome tokens and manage positions. See [Set Up Trading Approvals](/trading/wallets-auth#set-up-trading-approvals). ## Quote and Manage Orders ### Build Two-Sided Quotes Market makers maintain bids and asks around their fair value so other traders can execute in either direction. The midpoint describes the current book, but the quoting strategy must determine whether it represents fair value and how much risk to take around it. In a binary market, complementary outcomes provide another way to express the two sides. Buying NO at `0.48`, for example, is economically equivalent to selling YES at `0.52`. Before submitting a quote, confirm that the market is accepting orders and validate its current minimum price increment and minimum order size. See [Market Details](/market-data/market-details) for these constraints. ### Choose Order Types Choose the order type according to what the strategy needs to accomplish: | Type | Behavior | When to use | | ------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | | Good-Til-Cancelled (GTC) | Rests on the book until filled or canceled | Default for passive quotes | | Good-Til-Date (GTD) | Rests on the book until filled, canceled, or expired | Expire a passive quote at a known time | | Fill-or-Kill (FOK) | Fills the entire amount immediately or cancels | Rebalance immediately when a partial fill is not useful | | Fill-and-Kill (FAK) | Fills the available amount immediately and cancels the remainder | Rebalance immediately while allowing a partial fill | GTC and GTD are the primary order types for passive market making. Add the [post-only option](/trading/place-orders#post-only-orders) when an order must add liquidity rather than execute immediately. FAK and FOK are the execution types used by market orders for immediate rebalancing. ### Submit and Maintain Orders Submit related price levels as a [batch](/trading/place-orders#post-a-batch-of-orders) to reduce submission latency. Each order is evaluated independently, so check every result rather than treating the batch as a single success or failure. See [Place Orders](/trading/place-orders) for the complete order workflows. Once submitted, the quotes become orders resting on the book. Orders cannot be edited in place, so changing a quote means canceling the existing order and submitting a replacement: * Cancel and replace open orders when fair value, inventory, or market constraints change. * Keep the local book current with [real-time market data](/market-data/realtime-data#market-stream). * Monitor fills and order changes through [Real-Time Order Updates](/trading/realtime-order-updates). * After reconnecting, [fetch open orders and recent trades](/trading/manage-orders) before resuming the strategy. ## Manage Inventory Inventory is the outcome-token exposure accumulated through trading. Every fill changes that exposure and the pUSD or tokens available for new orders, so inventory must be part of every pricing and sizing decision. Buy orders use available pUSD, while sell orders require the corresponding outcome tokens. Splitting pUSD creates a complete set of outcome tokens; merging a complete set returns pUSD; and redeeming a winning position releases its value after resolution. See [Manage Positions](/trading/positions/manage) for these workflows. ### Inventory Strategies | Phase | Guidance | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Before quoting | Estimate the intended order sizes and prepare enough pUSD and outcome tokens to support them. Confirm that the required trading approvals are in place. | | During trading | Track exposure by market and outcome. Skew quote prices or sizes to reduce an imbalance, split additional pUSD when tokens run low, and merge complete sets to release capital. | | When exiting | Cancel the market's remaining orders, merge any complete sets that are no longer needed, and retain or reduce the remaining directional exposure deliberately. | | After resolution | Confirm that the market has resolved, redeem winning positions, and return the released capital to the strategy. | Multi-outcome events use [negative-risk markets](/concepts/negative-risk), which change how complete sets are created and merged. Account for the market type when planning inventory operations. ## Best Practices Use these practices to keep quotes current and limit avoidable execution risk. ### Quote Management * **Quote both sides** — Post bids and asks to provide liquidity in both directions. * **Skew on inventory** — Adjust quote prices based on the current position to manage exposure. * **Cancel stale quotes** — Pull orders immediately when market conditions change. * **Use GTD for events** — Expire quotes before known catalysts to avoid stale exposure. ### Latency * **Batch orders** — Submit related quotes in a [single request](/trading/place-orders#post-a-batch-of-orders). * **Use real-time data** — Subscribe to [market updates](/market-data/realtime-data#market-stream) instead of polling. ### Risk Controls * **Set size limits** — Check token balances before quoting and do not exceed the available inventory. * **Use price guards** — Validate prices against the book midpoint and reject outliers. * **Add a kill switch** — [Cancel all open orders](/trading/manage-orders#cancel-all-orders) when errors or position limits require the strategy to stop. * **Monitor fills** — Subscribe to [real-time order updates](/trading/realtime-order-updates) to track executions. ## Programs and Incentives In addition to the spread captured through executions, qualifying market-making activity may earn incentives through two separate programs. Earn rewards by maintaining qualifying resting liquidity in incentivized markets. Earn rebates when maker liquidity executes in eligible fee-enabled markets. Eligibility, calculations, and payouts differ between the programs. See each program page for its current terms. ## Support For market maker onboarding and support, contact [support@polymarket.com](mailto:support@polymarket.com).