An exchange-appointed intermediary (variously called a specialist, market-maker, or designated market maker depending on the venue) whose legal obligation is to maintain a continuous two-sided quote in the securities assigned to them. Market-makers enjoy two structural advantages over ordinary traders: order-book visibility (they can see resting buy, sell, and stop orders at every price level) and proprietary trading rights (they trade their own capital alongside facilitating customer orders). In VSA, every bar of spread, volume, and close position is read as a footprint of the market-maker's directional sentiment on that day's order flow.