Junior Market Maker / Trader
Junior Market Maker / Trader is a specialist who quotes prices and manages positions on crypto markets, supporting liquidity and keeping risk within limits.
What a Junior Market Maker / Trader does
Junior Market Maker / Trader is an entry-level role in the trading department, where the company posts two-sided quotes (bid and ask) on crypto pairs and earns from the spread and volume. The goal of the role is not to guess market direction, but to maintain the order book, reduce slippage for clients and the platform, and prevent uncontrolled positions. A junior works under the supervision of a more experienced trader or desk head and handles the routine part of the process: monitoring, adjusting quotes according to the rules, keeping records, and preparing reports.
Crypto companies hire market makers because liquidity is the foundation of trust in a product. Without it, users get poor prices, and internal trades and exchangers operate at a significant loss. The role sits at the intersection of trading, risk management, and technology. A junior gets access to trading systems, exchange APIs, and internal tools, and learns to read execution metrics and explain why a position has grown or shrunk.
In the structure, a junior usually reports to a Senior Trader or Head of Trading, and sometimes to a liquidity operations manager. A junior does not make independent decisions on large limits but can propose parameter adjustments and flag anomalies. Within the desk, the role works closely with risk managers, developers who maintain trading bots, and support teams when client trades raise questions.
Responsibilities
- Monitor quotes, spreads, and order book depth daily for assigned pairs across several venues.
- Place and update quotes within approved parameters: spread width, order size, and inventory limits.
- Track open positions and asset inventory, and report threshold breaches to the senior trader.
- Hedge exposure on spot or derivatives markets according to desk procedures.
- Analyze trade execution: slippage, fill rate, and unexpected losses on individual pairs.
- Respond to anomalies such as sharp price jumps, API failures, and data desynchronization between venues.
- Maintain logs of trades and parameter changes, prepare reconciliations with back office, and produce exports for financial accounting.
- Take part in incident reviews and propose improvements to quoting rules.
- Comply with internal rules on insider information, limits, and segregation of duties.
Skills
- Understanding of order books, spreads, liquidity, and slippage.
- Basic knowledge of spot trading and derivatives (futures, perpetual contracts) and their risks.
- Ability to calculate PnL and position exposure manually and in spreadsheets.
- Attention to detail and discipline in following procedures.
- Ability to make quick decisions within rules and escalate issues.
- Clear communication with risk managers and developers, without jargon.
- Basic data analysis skills: exports, pivot tables, simple charts.
- Stress tolerance during sharp market moves and night shifts, if the schedule includes them.
Tools
- Trading terminals and exchange APIs for placing and canceling orders.
- TradingView or similar tools for charts and technical analysis.
- Google Sheets or Excel for tracking positions, PnL, and reconciliations.
- Basic Python or SQL for data exports and simple checks.
- Internal risk systems and OMS/EMS, if the company uses proprietary solutions.
- Grafana or other monitoring systems for tracking metrics and alerts.
- Messengers and Jira for communication with the desk and task tracking.
How performance is measured
- Share of time during which quotes on assigned pairs are active and compliant with procedures (quote uptime).
- Average spread and order book depth relative to target values.
- Compliance with inventory and exposure limits without breaches.
- Slippage against fair price on desk trades.
- Timeliness and accuracy of reporting and reconciliations.
- Number of incidents detected and escalated before they grow.
By vertical
Crypto
In crypto companies, the role operates with high volatility, fragmented liquidity across centralized and decentralized venues, and depends heavily on API quality and monitoring. A junior most often deals with sharp price swings, unexpected delays, and the need to react quickly to failures, and also accounts for regulatory requirements for trading operations and the company's license.
Levels
Specialist
Specialist is the entry level. Works according to established procedures and parameters, performs monitoring, routine quote adjustments, and reporting, does not make decisions on large limits or strategy, and passes all non-standard situations to the senior trader.
How to get there
Most people move into the role from related positions: trading operations support, back office, data analytics, QA for trading systems, or trading with own capital, if the candidate has a verifiable track record and understands risk. The most important thing is to understand how order books, spreads, liquidity, and position accounting work, and to be able to explain this in simple terms during an interview.
To prepare, review the basic market concepts: order types, market making, slippage, hedging, inventory, and spot and derivative instruments. It is useful to learn how to calculate PnL in a spreadsheet, read trade exports, and have at least basic working knowledge of SQL or Python. Accuracy in documentation and the habit of keeping a change log are also important, since the role involves a lot of routine recording.
To grow, you need to show reliability: report on time, notice anomalies before others, respect limits carefully, and suggest improvements to the rules. Typically, the move to the next level happens once a junior consistently works by the procedures and starts managing assigned pairs independently and taking part in strategy reviews.
Next steps: Market Maker, Trader, Senior Trader, Trading Operations Specialist, Risk Analyst (trading risk)
FAQ
How is a market maker different from a regular trader?
A market maker continuously posts quotes on both sides of the market and earns primarily from the spread and volume, not from price direction. A trader more often makes directional decisions and may hold a position based on a forecast. In practice the line is blurred, and companies often combine these functions.
Do I need a university degree to become a junior?
Formal requirements depend on the company, but employers more often look for an understanding of financial markets, attention to detail, and the ability to work with data. A relevant degree helps but is not always required. It is more important to demonstrate knowledge through practice: reviewing trades, spreadsheets with calculations, and describing your own logic.
What skills do I need to get started?
Basics: understanding of order books and spreads, position accounting, working with spreadsheets, and attention to procedures. Knowing SQL or Python at a simple level is a plus. Emotional stability during sharp market moves is also important, since work situations can be tense.
What determines a junior's income in market making?
Income usually consists of a fixed part and, in some companies, a bonus that depends on desk results, compliance with limits, and execution quality. The size and structure of payments vary widely between companies and jurisdictions, so focus on the specific job posting.
Is there a risk of losses for a junior?
In most companies a junior works with limited allowances and under the supervision of a senior trader and risk managers. Still, errors in quotes or accounting can lead to losses, so the role requires discipline and quick escalation of problems.
How can I tell if this role suits me?
If you are interested in markets, order structure, and working with numbers, and you are comfortable with procedures and routine, this role may suit you. Try modeling simple market making on paper or in a spreadsheet: it will quickly show whether you enjoy the logic.
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