Marketplace liquidity
How reliably a marketplace matches supply with demand in each place and moment, such as enough online drivers near the bookings that need them.
Updated October 2026 · with examples from our own builds
What does marketplace liquidity mean in practice?
Liquidity is the marketplace's health measure: when a customer asks, is there a provider nearby who will say yes, quickly? It varies by area and by hour, so averages hide it, and a city can look well supplied while one district has bookings waiting and no drivers.
Measuring it tells operations where to recruit, when to offer incentives and where service is failing before complaints arrive. Treat it as an operating instrument, kept separate from pricing and dispatch until the numbers have earned trust.
The usual method divides the map into small cells and compares supply and demand in each, refreshed every minute or so.
Marketplace liquidity at a glance
- Measures
- Supply against demand, by area and time
- Used by
- Operations, for recruiting and incentives
- Keep separate from
- Pricing and dispatch until it is trusted
Where has marketplace liquidity come up in our builds?
Every 60 seconds the web backend places eligible online drivers and unassigned bookings on H3 resolution-8 hexagons of about 0.74 km² each and rates each cell from oversupplied to critical. A driver counts in the 37 cells around him, kept just inside the 3 km first dispatch ring, and pricing and dispatch don't read it.
Common questions about marketplace liquidity
How do I see where my marketplace is short of providers?
Map supply and demand on a grid of small cells, refresh it often, and show which cells have waiting demand and too little supply. City-wide averages hide exactly the areas that matter.
Should surge pricing read the liquidity map straight away?
Not until the map has been watched long enough to trust. Pakka's coverage map is a measuring instrument for operations, and pricing and dispatch deliberately ignore it.
Related terms
Sources
Planning a product and not sure where marketplace liquidity fits? Ask us, or browse all 116 terms in the glossary.