Trading hot stocks like GameStop seems fun until you look beneath the surface
Congress is asking questions about whether middlemen or “market makers” like Citadel that execute stock trades really give small investors the best prices.
Gretchen Morgenson, ABCNews, 18 February 2021
Market makers like Citadel make money by pocketing the difference between the price at which they buy shares — the bid — and the price they receive from selling them to Robinhood clients, the offer. Other firms in the business are Virtu Americas, G1X Execution Services and Two Sigma Securities.

A Congressional hearing into the GameStop mania that triggered the largest weekly selloff since late October is underway, with some of the key players in the saga—billionaire Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin, Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev, Reddit Cofounder Steve Huffman and the 34-year-old securities broker behind the Roaring Kitty online persona—all set to testify.
One of the most outspoken retail traders on Reddit’s WallStreetBets discussion board has been targeted in a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging the 34-year-old securities broker behind the widely followed “Roaring Kitty” persona committed securities fraud for misrepresenting himself as an amateur trader online while pumping up GameStop stock prices.