The "market maker" system gives market makers the

The "market maker" system gives market makers the golden opportunity to make a business out of screwing the investing public because of the inherent conflict of interest, as equity analyst and financial writer Glenn Curtis has described. Why have market makers at all when a computer could do their job of matching up buyers and sellers, like on eBay. That's all a market is: buyer meets seller, seller meets buyer. The standard excuse given is market makers provide liquidity. These are words they parrot, but they what do they really mean in practice and in terms of honest dealings? Nothing. Do you give selected companies a monopoly and a license to rob and steal the public blind for the vague reason of "liquidity"? 

"However, Nasdaq market makers (includes OTC trading), routinely take positions in stocks, both long and short, and then turn them around for a profit, or a loss, later in the day. They provide liquidity, but they are also more focused on capitalizing on your lot of stock by buying it for their own trading account and then flipping it to another buyer. In any case, market makers will sometimes post phony sizes in order to lure you into buying or selling a stock." -Glenn Curtis