How To Become A Market Maker: What It Is and Career Path

What is a market maker and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a market maker. For example, did you know that they make an average of $52.08 an hour? That's $108,335 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 10% and produce 47,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMarket MakerUS Average

Salary

7.8

Avg. Salary $108,335

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.7

Growth Rate 10%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 9.91%

Black or African American 5.74%

Hispanic or Latino 12.07%

Unknown 4.14%

White 67.92%

Gender

female 7.92%

male 92.08%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.6

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.7

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Market Maker in Columbus, OH

Receive alerts for the newest job postings.

Key steps to become a market maker

Explore market maker education requirements

Most common market maker degrees

Bachelor's

86.8 %

Master's

8.4 %

Associate

2.0 %

Start to develop specific market maker skills

Skills	Percentages
Equity Options	11.22%
Portfolio Risk	8.96%
NASD	7.41%
Financial Markets	6.45%
Manage Risk	6.21%

Complete relevant market maker training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New market makers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a market maker based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real market maker resumes.

Research market maker duties and responsibilities

Manage and critiqu all trades execute on NYMEX trading floor via computer system.
Trade several equities and options names, managing all risk, capital and executing trades using electronic screen base software/technology.
Dissect and manage complex derivative position risks, manage risks and interpret complex financial documents.
Price and risk manage multiple positions in corporate derivatives, including accelerate share buyback programs and long-date convertible bond/call spread overlays.

Get market maker experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a market maker. The most common roles before becoming a market maker include trader, trading assistant team lead and clerk.

Prepare your market maker resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your market maker resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a market maker resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Market Maker Resume templates

Build a professional Market Maker resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Market Maker resume.

Apply for market maker jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a market maker job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do market makers rate their job?