Market makers

Hi everyone

I have searched the net and looked for books on exactly whata market maker does and what effect they have on the price of a share. I have also tryed to find anything that has the title "secrets of a market maker" but havent found anything.

I have found tiny descriptions of a market maker in various books; but nothing exhaustive or written by a market maker themselves or the influence they have on the market prices of shares.

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who knows the subject.

in Australia we dont have market makers for shares

so is there an equivalent and if so how is it handled?

And thanks for the info.

Try this link to an earlier posting about a day in the life of a market maker.

https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13717&postcount=3

Basically it seems that they are there to provide liquidity in the market and to keep things flowing. They take calculated risks in taking in orders to make a market, ie they set the prices according to their risk graphs. There are also automated market makers too.