I rarely traded against retail. But sometimes I had to out of the trading account. I just wanted to give an execution for retail, I didn't have time for the broker to come to my office and yell at me. I really traded Agency and put order flow into the market. Many times I called MMs outside the inside quote to see what they got. If they are next behind the inside, I would bid or offer and see what I get. I knew they had a reason to be there.
Idgets think, "oh the stock is $0.009 and then it goes to $0.20". That is so untrue. They are just telling me they are willing to make a deal.