Dictionary

corner the market en · VERB

(idiomatic) To monopolize a resource or commodity, as with the intent of driving up prices.
- "Why, there ain't going to be any wheat left in Chicago by May! If I get in now and buy a long line of cash wheat, where are all these fellows who've sold short going to get it to deliver to me?" . . . Jadwin sprang forward, gripping the broker by the shoulder. "Sam," he shouted, ". . . we can corner the market!" 1903, Frank Norris, chapter 7, in The Pit:
(broadly, idiomatic) To have exclusive possession; to possess something to a high or excessive degree.
- It will not do to say that the Irish have a monopoly on stupidity, yet there have been times when I thought they nearly cornered the market. 1916, Elbert Hubbard, “Vol. 12: Great Scientists-John Tyndall”, in Little Journeys:

Spelling	Features	Source
cornering the market	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part	lexicographic
corners the market	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres	lexicographic
cornered the market	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part	lexicographic
cornered the market	Tense=Past	lexicographic