Level II Stock Quotes - If you are using Level II Stock Quotes, you can find out who the Market Makers are - View the market maker buying or selling the stock you are watching, and how many shares are bought and sold. Each market maker represents a buyer or seller in the stock market. Market makers try to keep the spread between the BID and ASK price tight so more market makers will trade with them and in turn they will make more money, because the cost for a MM to buy a seat on the stock exchange can be overwhelming and cost up to $4 Million dollars. If the market maker leases a seat on the exchange it will cost up to $55,000 per month. So the MMs need to make thousands of trades each month to pay those costs and they need to be as fair as they can, otherwise no one will trade with them.