This worksheet is educational. It is not a quote, and it is not tax or legal advice. EasyMM does not publish a standard fee on easymm.io. Any number in a proposal is project-specific. Do not treat third-party blogs as a price list.

Quick answer

Before you call one crypto market maker cheaper than another, add up more than the monthly invoice. Compare the cash fee, whether your project still funds the token and stablecoin inventory, what upside (if any) the desk keeps, how many venues and pairs sit inside the quote, and which reports are included, over the full term. Published dollar ranges online do not match each other, and they are not EasyMM's price.

Founders search "how much does a crypto market maker cost" because a proposal just landed, or because two proposals do not look alike. The honest answer is that cost is a stack, not a single line. A lower monthly number can leave inventory, options, extra venues, or reporting outside the quote. A higher monthly number can already include them. Until those lines sit on one sheet, the comparison is a guess.

This article is that sheet. It does not replace the explanation of how a retainer works, and it does not replace a red-flag review of fee categories. Those live here: what a retainer market maker is, and how to choose a market maker. Use this page to line two quotes up. If you are still sizing the engagement before launch, start from pre-TGE planning. If the book is already live, the operating offer is market making.

Quick definitions

Use the same words the retainer article uses. Do not import a competitor glossary, and do not import loan-size percentages from other blogs.

Retainer engagement. As EasyMM describes it, the issuer supplies token inventory and quote currency (stablecoin) for the term, pays a fixed service fee, and the inventory is returned at the end. The monthly fee is for the work. The inventory is still the project's capital. Read the retainer post for the model. This article will not restate it.

Loan or call engagement. As that same post describes it, the structure is a token loan plus option-style upside, and the desk brings its own capital. Compensation is tied to that upside rather than only to a fixed invoice. The cash line can look small. The upside line is still a cost if the token rises.

True cost (TCO). Cash you pay, plus inventory the project still has at risk, plus any upside given away, over the full term. Month one is not the term. A setup line in month one is not the same thing as a fee that runs until notice.

Why two quotes with different monthly numbers are not comparable

A monthly figure is only comparable when the scope behind it is the same. Most quotes are not the same scope wearing two prices. They are different jobs with one number printed in bold.

One quote may cover a single spot pair on one venue, with the project supplying both sides of inventory, a dashboard, and a weekly pack. Another may cover three venues, ask the project for a larger token balance, keep a profit share, and treat reporting as a later add-on. The second monthly number can be lower and still be the more expensive engagement once you write the other lines down.

Three mismatches show up constantly:

Who funds the book. If your treasury still posts the tokens and the stables, that capital is a cost of the program even when it is not an invoice. If the desk brings capital and keeps option-style upside, the invoice is smaller and the upside is the price.

What the fee buys. Venues, pairs, hours, and reporting are scope. A fee that looks "all in" on a call and "per venue" in the PDF is not all in.

How long you are comparing. A short introductory term, a long minimum term, and a term you can exit on notice are three different costs. Add the cash across the term you will actually live with, not across the first invoice.

None of this says a higher fee is safer or a lower fee is a trick. It says you cannot rank the invoices until the rest of the sheet is filled from the documents in front of you, not from a blog.

Line items that belong on the worksheet

Copy these labels into a note next to each proposal. Leave the amounts blank until the quote states them. If a line is missing from the quote, write "not stated" rather than assuming it is zero or included.

Cash retainer or service fee

This is the amount you pay for the desk's work. Ask whether it is fixed for the term or whether it can change when venues, pairs, or hours change. Ask what the invoice actually covers: quoting, monitoring, venue coordination, and which reports. A fee with no scope list is not a fee you can compare.

Setup or per-venue integration

Some proposals split a one-time setup or a per-venue integration from the monthly fee. Some fold that work into the retainer. Write the line even if the answer is "none" or "included." A quote that hides setup inside "implementation" and a quote that shows it as its own line are not yet on the same sheet.

Term and notice

Write the minimum term, the notice period, and who can give notice. A cheap month inside a long lock-in is not a cheap month. Notice is a commercial term. The operational wind-down of quotes and inventory belongs in the agreement, not in this cost sheet. For KPIs, custody, and exit language, use the market making agreement article once, with counsel. Do not treat this worksheet as an SLA.

Token inventory the project provides

Record units, not a guessed percent of supply. "The project lends inventory" is not a number. You want the token amount, which account it sits on, and whether the quote expects you to top it up. Units returned at the end is a contract term. Mark-to-market value coming back unchanged is not a promise, and this article will not pretend it is.

Stablecoin the project provides

Two-sided quoting needs a quote asset as well as tokens. Write the stablecoin (or other quote asset) the project is asked to provide, in units, and whether that balance is per venue or one pool. A quote that specifies tokens and stays silent on stables is an incomplete book.

Upside the desk keeps

Option, profit share, token allocation, or none. If the answer is none, write none. If the answer is an option or a share of trading results, write the form in words from the term sheet. Do not invent a strike, a discount, or a "typical" percent. The point of the line is to see whether upside leaves the project at all.

Venues and pairs

List each venue and each spot pair inside the quoted fee. Then list anything described as optional or extra. "Major CEXs" is not a list. A second venue added after signature is a change of scope, not a rounding error.

Reporting included

Say whether the quote includes a live or daily view, a weekly pack, and on-demand updates, or whether reporting is a separate fee. EasyMM's market making pages describe 24/7 reporting as part of the engagement. Another firm's quote may not. Compare the deliverable, not the word "transparent."

What is returned at the end

Token units, stablecoin units, and any account access. If the structure is loan or call, write what is returned if the option is not used, and what the desk keeps if it is. Again: units and rights, not a promise about price.

How a loan or call quote can look cheaper and still cost more

On a cash basis, a loan or call proposal often shows a smaller monthly invoice because the desk is paid through option-style upside and brings its own capital. That can be the right structure for a project that cannot post inventory. It is not automatically the lower true cost.

If the token rises, the upside the desk keeps is value the project does not keep. The invoice stayed small. The cost showed up in the token, not in accounts payable. If the token does not rise, that upside may be worth little, and a retainer's fixed fee may have been the larger cash outlay while the project also had its own inventory at risk. Both outcomes are possible. Neither one is "always cheaper."

Compare the structures by incentive, not by insult. A retainer desk is paid to quote with your inventory under a fixed fee, so the project's upside stays with the project and the project's capital stays at risk. A loan or call desk is paid through the option, so its economics improve when the token clears the terms you signed. Write those incentives next to each other. Stop there. Do not treat one model as predatory, and do not copy loan size as a percent of supply from a vendor blog.

What changes the quote without being a fee

Some differences never appear as a dollar line, and they still change what you are buying.

Venue count. Each extra book is more inventory placement, more monitoring, and often a different maintenance test. Ask for the count in writing.

Depth you ask for. A request for a deeper book is a request for more inventory on the bid and the ask. The fee might not move. The capital you post will. Depth targets belong in the agreement's KPI annex, filled from your own ops review, not from a universal figure in a blog.

Pre-TGE versus already listed. Before launch you are buying a model of inventory, venues, and reporting. After launch you are buying operation of a live book. Pre-TGE is the planning path. Market making is the live path. Price them as different scopes even if one firm does both.

Recovery versus steady quoting. A book under exchange pressure is a different mandate from calm two-sided quoting. If you are pricing a recovery, read delisting help and scope that work on its own. Do not hide it inside a steady-state retainer and call the comparison fair.

Comparing Quote A and Quote B line by line

Take the proposals one line at a time. For each line below, write what Quote A says and what Quote B says, in the proposal's own terms. If the PDF does not say it, write "not stated." Do not borrow a number from a search result.

1. Cash fee per month. The amount in each quote, and whether it is fixed or can change.

2. Setup or per-venue line. Whether each quote has a separate setup or integration line, and the amount if it does.

3. Term and notice. Minimum term, notice period, and who can give notice.

4. Token inventory the project provides. Units, not a guessed percent of supply.

5. Stablecoin the project provides. Units and asset.

6. Upside the desk keeps. Option, profit share, or none.

7. Venues and pairs. Each one inside the fee, plus anything listed as extra.

8. Reporting included. Dashboard, weekly pack, on-demand updates, or an extra fee.

9. What is returned at the end. Units and account access.

When every line has an answer for both quotes, compare the whole stack, not the fee alone. The cheaper quote is the one whose full stack you prefer after inventory, upside, venues, reporting, and term are visible. If one quote is mostly "not stated," you do not have a quote yet. You have a headline.

What this comparison will not decide

The worksheet compares cost. It does not settle the questions below, and it should not be used to.

It will not produce an EasyMM price, an industry average, or a setup-fee band. Those figures are not published here because third-party ranges do not agree, and a made-up band would be worse than a blank line.

It will not say a retainer is always cheaper than a loan or call, or the reverse.

It will not guarantee a spread, a volume level, a listing, or a delisting outcome.

It will not promise that inventory comes back at the same market value. Units returned is a contract term. Price is not.

It will not score the counterparty's character. For warning signs and fee categories, use the choose-a-maker article. Do not turn this sheet into that list.

How to read the sheet once it is filled

Do the cash line across the term you will actually serve, not across a single month. If the fee is monthly, extend it by the number of months in the minimum term, then note what notice would add if you left at the first allowed date. Write that cash total next to the inventory units and the upside line. You are not producing a single score. You are stopping a one-month illusion.

Then ask three questions that the bold price cannot answer:

If we add a venue later, does the cash fee change, and do we post more inventory?

If the token price moves a lot, whose upside moves with it, and whose units are still ours at the end?

If we need to show an exchange how the book was quoted, is that report inside this fee or a later argument?

Send those questions back in writing before you treat either quote as final. A desk that can fill the worksheet from its own proposal is comparable. A desk that answers with a range from a blog is not quoting your project yet.

Keep custody, KPI numbers, and termination mechanics out of this arithmetic. They belong in the agreement article, reviewed by counsel and by ops. Cost tells you what you are paying and what capital you are still risking. The agreement tells you how you will know the work happened, and how you get the units back.

Use the sheet before you pick a scope

Walk one real quote through the lines above. If the book you want is ongoing quoting and reporting, look at market making. If you are still before launch and the open question is how large the engagement should be, look at pre-TGE. The wider service map is on services, and common commercial questions are on the FAQ.

Bring the worksheet. Leave the blog ranges behind. A useful next conversation is the one where every blank line becomes a term you can point to, not a rate you were hoping the internet would standardize.

FAQ

Short answers to the questions teams ask most often when they compare market maker quotes.

Is there a standard monthly price for crypto market making?

No. EasyMM does not publish a standard fee, and public write-ups do not share one range you can treat as the market. The price in a proposal is specific to that project, that inventory, and that venue list.

Why do online guides show different fee ranges?

They are describing different scopes, different years, and often different commercial models, then printing a band as if it were a rate card. Those bands contradict each other. They are not a price list, and they are not EasyMM's price.

Does a retainer mean the market maker brings the capital?

No. In the retainer model EasyMM describes, the issuer supplies token inventory and stablecoin, pays a fixed service fee, and the inventory is returned at the end. The desk's own capital is the loan or call side of the comparison, not the retainer side.

Should I compare only the monthly invoice?

No. Add the cash fee across the real term, the token and stable inventory your project still funds, any upside the desk keeps, the venues included, and the reporting included. The invoice is one line on that sheet.

Are reporting and extra venues usually inside the same fee?

Sometimes yes, sometimes as a separate line. You have to read the quote. Write "included," "extra," or "not stated" for the dashboard, the weekly pack, and each venue. Do not assume a second venue was free because the first call did not mention it.

Where do contract KPIs and exit terms fit if this article is about cost?

They sit beside cost, not inside the monthly number. Spread, depth, custody, and how inventory comes back belong in the agreement and its annex. Use the agreement article for that checklist. Use this worksheet so you do not sign a fee before you know what the fee is buying.