> Market makers have no interest in owning the stock. They have no interest in being long or short. They're like a furniture or electronics store. They match buyers and sellers, and for this, they make a slim profit margin. This profit margin is known as the spread. The reason they make a profit is because risk is involved. If they sell stock to you, but the price is so volatile that it moves up and up before they can find a buyer and equal out their book, they can lose a lot of money, and they can lose it fast.
> This is why discount brokers (Robinhood, Cashapp, Webull, etc...) have stopped allowing people to buy GME, and AMC, among others. They can't find a market maker to take your order. It sucks because retail made a lot of dumb moves, and bought a lot of shares they shouldn't have bought, and they're going to lose a ton of money, but it's not a conspiracy. [1]
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/l6qhhg/discussi...
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/l7bo3r/the_game...
I'm happy to change my phrase, what would you call it when brokerages unilaterally help their market makers by changing trading terms to ones that favor one side. Halting trading is usually done by an exchange.