Quote from nitro:
For a non arbitrageur where his money is made instantly, this is probably the single most importatnt insight to trading to get right. You are not quite there though, but you are thinking along the right lines.
Let me give you an example. Do options market makers predict direction? When you see all those people on the MERC floor or CBOE with headsets, what do you think they are doing? What does an option market maker do the instant he fills in the pit? He hedges. So how does he make money if he hedges instantly?
Prediction is necessary, but it is not always direction that you are predicting. The more abstract you can make prediction the closer you are to understanding how to make money trading.
nitro