Dynamics of market making algorithms in dealer markets: learning and tacit collusion
Author(s)
Cont, Rama
Xiong, Wei
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The widespread use of market-making algorithms in electronic over-the-counter markets may give rise to unexpected effects resulting from the autonomous learning dynamics of these algorithms. In particular the possibility of “tacit collusion” among market makers has increasingly received regulatory scrutiny. We model the interaction of market makers in a dealer market as a stochastic differential game of intensity control with partial information and study the resulting dynamics of bid-ask spreads. Competition among dealers is modeled as a Nash equilibrium, while collusion is described in terms of Pareto optima. Using a decentralized multi-agent deep reinforcement learning algorithm to model how competing market makers learn to adjust their quotes, we show that the interaction of market making algorithms via market prices, without any sharing of information, may give rise to tacit collusion, with spread levels strictly above the competitive equilibrium level.
Date Issued
2024-04
Date Acceptance
2023-05-09
Citation
Mathematical Finance, 2024, 34 (2), pp.467-521
ISSN
0960-1627
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
467
End Page
521
Journal / Book Title
Mathematical Finance
Volume
34
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Authors. Mathematical Finance published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mafi.12401
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2023-05-30