market making
market-making, n. The practice of establishing prices for over-the-counter securities by reporting bid-and-asked quotations. • A broker-dealer engaged in this practice, which is regulated by both the NASD and the SEC, buys and sells securities as a principal for its own account, and thus accepts two-way bids (both to buy and to sell). See BID AND ASKED. [Cases: Securities Regulation 53.17(3).]