Maker-taker fees refer to the practice of securities exchanges offering market makers rebates and charging market takers fees for executing trades. Market makers are firms that are always ready to buy or sell a given security at the best possible price, making a profit off the ask-bid spread. Market makers enhance the market’s liquidity, thus attracting less active traders (and long-term investors) looking to buy at a reasonable price. Electronic exchanges began offering market maker rebates in the 1990s to draw trading activity from established exchanges with greater liquidity. The exchange makes a small profit on the difference between the fee charged to market takers and the rebate passed to market makers.