> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.aftermath.finance/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.aftermath.finance/perpetuals/architecture/market-makers/market-maker-economics.md).

# Market Maker Economics

Cost breakdown, fee structure, and operational considerations for market makers on Aftermath Perpetuals.

This page covers the total cost of operating as a market maker on Aftermath Perpetuals, including trading fees, gas costs, and how Sui's Programmable Transaction Blocks (PTBs) reduce overhead.

## Total Cost Per Order

The total cost of placing or refreshing an order has two components:

1. **Trading fee** (charged on fill, not on placement)
2. **Gas cost** (charged on every transaction, regardless of fill)

### Trading Fees

Fees are tiered based on rolling 14-day volume. Makers pay significantly less than takers, and at higher tiers receive **negative fees (rebates)** — meaning you get paid when your resting orders are filled.

**Growth Mode is live** — all maker fees are **-0.5 bps (-0.005%)** across every tier. You get paid when your resting orders are filled. [Announcement](https://x.com/aftermathfi/status/2041254810528501779)

| Tier | 14-Day Volume | Maker Fee | Taker Fee |
| ---- | ------------- | --------- | --------- |
| 0    | $0+           | -0.005%   | 0.045%    |
| 1    | $5M+          | -0.005%   | 0.040%    |
| 2    | $10M+         | -0.005%   | 0.038%    |
| 3    | $25M+         | -0.005%   | 0.035%    |
| 4    | $50M+         | -0.005%   | 0.033%    |
| 5    | $100M+        | -0.005%   | 0.030%    |
| 6    | $250M+        | -0.005%   | 0.029%    |
| 7    | $500M+        | -0.005%   | 0.028%    |
| 8    | $1B+          | -0.005%   | 0.027%    |
| 10   | $2B+          | -0.005%   | 0.026%    |

**Key point:** Trading fees are only charged when an order is **filled**, not when it is placed or cancelled. Quoting (placing/cancelling resting orders) costs only gas.

### Direct Maker Rebates

In addition to the fee tiers above, makers who maintain consistent market share receive direct rebates paid out biweekly:

| Tier | Market Share | Direct Rebate    |
| ---- | ------------ | ---------------- |
| T1   | ≥ 0.5%       | 0.001% (0.1 bps) |
| T2   | ≥ 1.5%       | 0.002% (0.2 bps) |
| T3   | ≥ 3%         | 0.004% (0.4 bps) |
| T4   | ≥ 5%         | 0.008% (0.8 bps) |

### Gas Costs

Aftermath Perpetuals runs on Sui, where gas costs are extremely low. Gas should be measured from the transaction's on-chain effects:

| Component        | On-chain field                                  |
| ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| Computation      | `computationCost`                               |
| Storage deposit  | `storageCost`                                   |
| Storage returned | `storageRebate`                                 |
| Net gas cost     | `computationCost + storageCost - storageRebate` |

A 24-hour onchain dashboard snapshot measured an average order cost of **\~0.000435 SUI**. In a separate sample of 17 successful mainnet transactions, atomic cancel-and-place PTBs containing two new limit orders used roughly **0.0006–0.0007 SUI total**, or about **0.0003 SUI per new order**. These are observed examples, not fixed protocol fees. Individual cost depends on batching, oracle updates, object inputs, storage changes, and the reference gas price. Dry-run or simulate the transaction you plan to submit before quoting.

Sui's storage rebate model means that **cancelling an order returns a portion of the gas paid when placing it**. For market makers who continuously refresh quotes, this rebate significantly reduces the effective cost of quoting.

Gas is the only cost incurred when placing, cancelling, or refreshing orders that do not fill.

## Programmable Transaction Blocks (PTBs)

PTBs are a core feature of the Sui blockchain that allow multiple operations to be composed into a **single atomic transaction**. This is critical for market makers because it means you can:

* **Cancel old orders and place new orders in one transaction** — no gap where you have no orders on the book
* **Update quotes across multiple price levels atomically** — your entire grid refreshes at once
* **Pay gas only once** for what would be multiple transactions on other chains

### Cancel-and-Place Endpoint

Aftermath provides a dedicated endpoint that builds a PTB to atomically cancel existing orders and place new ones in a single transaction:

`POST /api/perpetuals/account/transactions/cancel-and-place-orders`

This eliminates the "naked" period between cancelling stale quotes and posting fresh ones, which on other platforms creates adverse selection risk.

### What This Means in Practice

| Operation                     | Other Chains             | Aftermath (via PTB)   |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------ | --------------------- |
| Cancel 5 orders + place 5 new | 10 transactions, 10× gas | 1 transaction, 1× gas |
| Time exposed with no quotes   | Seconds to minutes       | Zero (atomic swap)    |
| Failure mode                  | Partial execution risk   | All-or-nothing        |

## Adverse Selection Protection (RGP)

Reference Gas Price (RGP) is Aftermath's mechanism to protect makers from toxic flow. On most exchanges, fast/informed takers exploit stale maker quotes by paying higher gas for sequencing priority.

RGP compares each order transaction's gas price against the epoch's network-wide reference gas price. Transactions paying strictly above it are charged a **priority taker fee** on top of the regular taker fee (0.10% by default; a per-market parameter). These penalty fees accrue to the market's fee pool together with all other trading fees — the same pool that funds maker rebates.

This means:

* The more toxic flow targets your quotes, the more fees flow toward liquidity providers
* Retail takers trading at the reference gas price are unaffected
* No cancel prioritization needed — works within Sui's existing execution model

See [RGP](/perpetuals/architecture/fees/reference-gas-price.md) for the full mechanism.

## Operational Setup

### Agent Wallets

Market makers should use **Agent Wallets** to separate signing keys from the account admin wallet. The agent wallet can execute all trading actions (place, cancel, modify orders) but **cannot withdraw collateral**. This limits blast radius if a bot key is compromised.

* Grant via: `POST /api/perpetuals/account/transactions/grant-agent-wallet`
* Revoke via: `POST /api/perpetuals/account/transactions/revoke-agent-wallet`

### Sub-Accounts

Volume from sub-accounts rolls up to the master account for fee tier calculation. Run multiple strategies across sub-accounts while benefiting from a single fee tier.

### Integration Options

| Method         | Best For                        | Docs                                                              |
| -------------- | ------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| REST API       | Full control, custom strategies | [API Reference](https://aftermath.finance/docs)                   |
| CCXT           | Firms with existing CCXT infra  | [CCXT Docs](/for-developers/api/ccxt.md)                          |
| TypeScript SDK | Fastest integration path        | [SDK Docs](/for-developers/typescript-sdk/products/perpetuals.md) |

## Summary

| Cost Component | When Charged         | Typical Cost                                  |
| -------------- | -------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Gas            | Every transaction    | \~0.000435 SUI average order cost (24h)       |
| Maker fee      | On fill only         | -0.005% (Growth Mode — all tiers)             |
| Maker rebate   | Biweekly payout      | Up to 0.008% back (by market share)           |
| RGP surcharge  | Paid by toxic takers | 0.10% default, accrues to the market fee pool |