You also need to factor in the fact that something can be completely predictable in the market and you still can't make a dime off it unless the rest of the market is somehow all unaware of this predictable feature. If, for example it was a proven fact that volatility spiked at 9:45 every morning and you could trade a volatility product (that doesn't exist) which gave you the spot volatility price, the known spike at 9:45 would simply be priced in and no-one could exploit it. On a more real world example, you know the price of a stock will drop by exactly the amount of the dividend when it goes ex. That's absolutely known price action that's entirely predictable. And not something you can profit from despite it's predicability.