A little of both. Most of the brokered trades can be routed through any ECN iirc. It doesn't really matter. Unless you see fairly large orders, I would not believe anyone when they say something along the lines of 'this is the mm simply gaming the stock'.
The MM is anyone with exposure to the security. The larger the exposure to the security, the more influence that individual market maker has. A market maker could be you, me, a hedge fund - anyone with exposure to the stock.
Generally one should consider these factors when attempting to evaluate is this an actual market maker take down? Or just individual with a) deep pockets or b) a large position in the security.
Inevitably it is nearly impossible to know one way or the other because we do not work for brokerage houses and therefore we do not have access to level 3's.
My best advice is to learn how to price the company, evaluate the averages - follow the low average to accumulate on and sell on the high average.
but never buy into the short squeeze bull or any of the likes unless you can physically determine it yourself.
gltu
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