What is a Market Maker?

Market makers primarily provide liquidity and stability to the market, helping to smooth price fluctuations and simplify the trading process for other participants. As professional market participants, market makers are often top investment institutions or specialized firms. If a market maker reduces its holdings of a particular token or exits the market, the token’s market depth can decline rapidly, potentially leading to sharp price swings. This could even trigger a wave of sell-offs in markets with lower trading volume. Conversely, if a market maker holds a significant proportion of a token, it is often seen as a sign of confidence, attracting more investors and driving prices up. This is why many professionals closely monitor the token holdings of major market makers.

A market maker can be understood as a supplier. For example, if we want to buy BTC, we place an order at our chosen exchange. The exchange then forwards our order to the market makers it collaborates with. These market makers match our order based on their available sell-side liquidity and execute the trade at an appropriate price. This example illustrates that market makers act as intermediaries in the market. Both projects and traders rely on them because they are central to trade execution.

Top Market Makers’ Holdings Overview

Let’s take a look at the current holdings of the Top 7 market makers (ranked by real-time market value).

1. Wintermute – Current Market Value: $615M

Wintermute is a crypto market maker specializing in high-frequency algorithmic trading and market-making services. It supports over 250 mainstream tokens, stablecoins, and altcoins, making it one of the most extensive platforms in the industry. Wintermute provides liquidity algorithms for top-tier crypto exchanges and trading platforms such as Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and OKX, with over 50% of Binance’s liquidity support coming from Wintermute. Additionally, Wintermute assists traditional financial institutions in entering the crypto market, facilitating transactions settled in major fiat currencies such as USD, GBP, and EUR.

Wintermute Data (Source: https://intel.arkm.com/dashboards/)

As of January 20, Wintermute’s total market value reached $615M, with its top three token holdings being SOL, USDC, and TRUMP, which account for 30% of its total holdings. Wintermute holds a significant 22% position in SOL, with a market value exceeding $135M. Additionally, the recently surging Trump-themed meme coin, $TRUMP, accounts for 3% of its holdings, with a current market value of $21M and a 66% daily increase. At its peak, $TRUMP’s allocation surpassed USDC, ranking as Wintermute’s second-largest holding. This indicates that while Wintermute is bullish on Solana, it also retains a portion of USDC to follow trending market tokens.

2. Jump Trading – Current Market Value: $333M

Jump Trading is a globally leading quantitative trading firm founded in 1999. It specializes in algorithmic and high-frequency trading strategies, providing liquidity and capturing market opportunities in global financial markets. Jump Trading actively utilizes advanced technologies such as computer science, artificial intelligence, and big data to forecast markets and make trading decisions. Over the years, it has collaborated, innovated, and traded in the crypto space.

Jump Trading Data (Source: https://intel.arkm.com/dashboards/)

The latest data shows that Jump Trading’s top four token holdings all originate from the Ethereum network, accounting for 99% of its portfolio. These include STETH (30%, $98.43M), ETH (24%, $81.44M), USDC (21%), and USDT (20%). Jump Trading’s holdings clearly reflect its strong preference for the Ethereum network, with 99% of its assets on Ethereum. With USDT and USDC making up over 40% of its portfolio, it appears Jump Trading is currently adopting a conservative strategy, keeping a significant portion in stablecoins to seize future opportunities while maintaining confidence in Ethereum’s performance in 2025.

3. Cumberland (DRW Holdings) – Current Market Value: $220M

Founded in 2014, Cumberland is one of the world’s leading crypto asset liquidity providers and serves as the cryptocurrency division of DRW Holdings. It specializes in providing digital asset liquidity solutions to global markets. As a leading crypto market maker, Cumberland supports institutional and high-net-worth clients in executing large spot and derivatives trades, covering both mainstream cryptocurrencies and emerging digital assets.

Cumberland Data (Source: https://intel.arkm.com/dashboards/)

Cumberland’s current market value stands at $220M, with holdings of 1,672 BTC, making up 82% of its total assets. Ethereum-based assets account for 9%, ranking second, including ETH and smaller allocations in UNI, SHIB, and LINK. Other token holdings collectively account for less than 1%, while stablecoins total over $7.7M, representing 4% of its portfolio. This distribution indicates that Cumberland has a highly concentrated Bitcoin position, almost fully allocated to BTC. As Bitcoin continues to reach new highs, Cumberland’s heavy BTC allocation suggests its market value could continue to rise.

4. B2C2 Group – Current Market Value: $217M

Founded in 2015, B2C2 Group is one of the world’s leading crypto liquidity providers, specializing in offering efficient liquidity solutions to institutional clients. It provides access to spot, derivatives, and market-making services, ensuring reliable liquidity under various market conditions, thereby enabling institutional access to cryptocurrencies. In 2020, B2C2 was acquired by Japan’s financial group SBI but continues to operate as an independent company.

B2C2 Group Data (Source: https://intel.arkm.com/dashboards/)

B2C2 Group’s top three holdings are ETH (39%), BTC (34%), and USDT (14%), which together account for 87% of its portfolio. The fourth-largest holding is the meme coin SHIB, representing only 3% of total assets. The portfolio distribution indicates that B2C2 follows a relatively conservative strategy, primarily focusing on major cryptocurrencies. Even its meme coin holdings, including SHIB, PEPE, and CAT, are from long-established and relatively stable projects. While the portfolio is concentrated, the 14% USDT allocation provides flexibility for new investment opportunities.

5. QCP Capital – Current Market Value: $207M

Headquartered in Singapore and founded in 2017, QCP Capital is one of the world’s largest derivatives market makers. It offers innovative trading solutions for institutions and high-net-worth clients, covering spot, options, and other derivative markets. QCP Capital holds a significant position in the Asian and global digital asset markets. Its core team members come from institutions like Standard Chartered Bank and Dymon Asia Capital, bringing extensive experience in derivatives, forex, and bond trading.

QCP Capital Data (Source: https://intel.arkm.com/dashboards/)

Like Cumberland, QCP Capital heavily invests in Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, unlike Cumberland, QCP Capital’s Ethereum-based holdings are almost entirely concentrated in ETH without much diversification. Currently, it holds 1,239 BTC (65% of its total market value) and 20,634 ETH (34%), with these two assets making up 99% of its portfolio. Given Bitcoin’s strong recent performance, record-breaking price movements, and the market’s high expectations for Ethereum ahead of the Pectra upgrade in March, any significant price surge in BTC or ETH could further elevate QCP Capital’s market value.

6. GSR Markets – Current Market Value: $128M

Founded in 2013, GSR Markets is a market maker and an active, diversified investor with over 11 years of expertise in the crypto market. It operates across spot, derivatives, and decentralized finance (DeFi) markets. GSR Markets has been a long-term liquidity provider for top-tier exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, and Gate.io. The firm’s current market value stands at $128M, with its top three holdings being USDT (19%), RENDER (12%), and RSC (7%).

GSR Markets Data (Source: https://intel.arkm.com/dashboards/)

GSR’s token holdings are concentrated primarily across Ethereum, Solana, and Base networks, with assets on these three chains making up 98% of its portfolio. On Ethereum, GSR holds a significant amount of high-quality tokens, including mainstream assets and Layer 2 project tokens. Ethereum-based holdings comprise 75% of its total assets—demonstrating its strong confidence in the Ethereum ecosystem. On the Solana network, GSR primarily invests in meme coins such as Render, WIF, CHILLGUY, and TNSR, most of which have relatively low initial circulation. These tokens attract speculative traders due to their scarcity and high demand. As Solana’s ecosystem continues to develop, GSR Markets has substantial room for further market value growth.

7. Amber Group – Current Market Value: $76M

Amber Group is a leading global digital asset firm offering institutional and individual investors a full suite of crypto financial services, including market-making, asset management, and derivatives trading. Its core team comprises professionals from top traditional financial institutions like Morgan Stanley and HSBC. Currently, almost all of Amber Group’s assets are based on the Ethereum network, with a total market value of $76M.

Amber Group Data (Source: https://intel.arkm.com/dashboards/)

Amber Group’s top three holdings are USDC (31%), ZRO (25%), and ETH (22%), collectively accounting for 78% of its portfolio. Like many market makers, Amber Group maintains a significant USDC position to deploy into new investments. It has actively participated in trending narratives such as liquid staking, Layer 2, and interoperability protocols. With more whales accumulating ETH and growing market confidence in Ethereum, Amber Group follows suit. Notably, Amber still holds $16.45M worth of ZRO, indicating its continued strategic positioning in this asset.

Conclusion

Most market makers concentrate their funds on mainstream tokens like BTC and ETH. The explosive growth of meme coins on the Solana (SOL) network last year has also pushed SOL into the portfolios of many major market makers. With BTC continuously hitting new highs, whales and institutions increasing their holdings of mainstream tokens, the upcoming Ethereum Pectra upgrade, and the influence of figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the market remains highly optimistic about blockchain development in 2025. Nearly all market makers are heavily invested in BTC and ETH while keeping a portion of stablecoins available to seize emerging opportunities.

The proportion of tokens held by market makers impacts market liquidity and price stability and plays a crucial role in investor confidence. This is why many closely monitor institutional market makers’ holdings—they have the power to drive token prices up or amplify market downturns. Therefore, keeping an eye on market makers’ portfolios and their potential impact can help investors better navigate market fluctuations.