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Market Making/●●●●●

Adverse selection when the prior is not 50/50

Asked at Optiver, Jane Street

An asset is worth VH=110V_H = 110 or VL=90V_L = 90, but now the market believes the high state is more likely: P(VH)=0.6P(V_H) = 0.6, P(VL)=0.4P(V_L) = 0.4. A fraction α=0.4\alpha = 0.4 of traders are informed (know VV, trade the profitable side); the rest are 50/5050/50 noise. Competition forces zero expected profit on each side.

What are the break-even bid and ask now, and is the mid-quote still the unconditional mean?

Your answer

This one is open-ended. Work it through, then check your reasoning against the full solution.

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