Market halts are completely different from what we are discussing. And one of the purposes of market makers is to provide liquidity in extreme cases as you are describing (I'm not saying it works perfectly, but it's one of their reasons for existing).
Anyway, I feel like we aren't quite getting our points across to each other. Not blaming you just saying let's agree to disagree.
I'm not talking about market halts. I'm saying when all the buy-orders vanish from the marketplace, it results in a "flash crash". Hitting the "sell" button will do really weird things at these times.
After all, a "sell" can only mechanically happen if the market pairs you up with a "buy". That's just how the stock market works. If there's no buyers, you can't sell, even if you're hitting the "sell" button.
I realize every buy needs a sell. I also said "typically" and considering there obviously were buyers since you could still sell, everything you're saying is irrelevant to the discussion we had about GME in 2021.
Anyway, we're not getting anywhere. You can respond but I'm not responding anymore.
No, RH matched the sell order with an internal buy order and netted them out to reduce their collateral requirements over the T+2 settlement period. They didn't use cash to buy stock from other brokerages.