Today at about 15:46 CST, after the, slow, contrived, yet monster spanking in CLX2, we traded down the low, 93.06, put in a new low, 93.04 and then all the bids disappeared and the market vacuumed down to 92.84 on no volume. I was just wondering what the obligation is of the Market Makers to provide liquidity? The market just moved, with no execution. I was short, so I'm not complaining, just curious.

Thanks

sorry those prices are wrong... tired... but you get the idea...

That is probably really just the speed of CL. I am sure there were probably bids at every level just can move very fast. That is actually not that big of a move for CL. Why it is bad to play with CL unless have quite a bit of experience. Also important to have a very good data feed as some filter and are not reliable. I have never seen the bid disappear on CL unless my feed was bad. I have seen large moves in seconds or minutes but there was always a bid. Futures market is essentially 0 sum game and there is not really a market maker system like in stocks where they are required to provide liquidity. Every man for himself.

WolfieWolf 

sorry those prices are wrong... tired... but you get the idea...

Right or wrong,
However I think you raised a good question here. We're always concerned with the execution but never bother to know what MMs are supposed to do on the markets. Also anyone knows the difference between a Market Maker and a Market Specialist?

Is the same stuff?