Towards Robust Reinforcement Learning Market Making: Lessons from Loss Function Experimentation

Siddharth Nand, Bora Guney

Market makers play a vital role in ensuring efficient trade within financial markets. Recent literature has delved into training market-making systems using reinforcement learning. This paper delves into the impact of various loss function formulations on risk management behavior within reinforcement-based market making. Through empirical evaluation, we contrast profit-maximizing strategies with risk-averse approaches, finding that penalties for inventory and cash management foster more resilient and adaptable market-making strategies. Our results underscore the significance of striking a balance between profit maximization and risk management in algorithmic trading, providing actionable insights for refining strategies in practical settings.