But those places have level II.... for example if you go to the race track and you bet on a horse you have a few options before you make your bet. You can go down to the Paddock and look at all of the horses in the 7th race as they walk them out and around the paddock circle before the jockey mounts his horse. You then see what one looks the best to you, biggest, best looking coat, alert eyes. As as you do that you are listening to all of the people around you talking about each horse. Saying what THEY THINK of him or her. Once they are done and the jockey is up they walk them out to the track.
So now your back in the grand stands and you look at the tote board...where the odds are posted. The horse that most everyone in the place with the shortest odds, lets say 2-1, is what most are betting on... so you put together what you have gathered... who looks the best, who are most people at the paddock talking about and what are the odds. You make your bet and hope you win.
Or you can use the Level II that the track offers... its called the Racing form... in that form is every horse for every race for that day. You now can look at all of the information on each horse... how many races have they ran this year. What races are they in.. A Claiming Race, an allowance race or a Steaks race. What are their running time, what conditions did they run in, a Good Track, A Sloppy Track or a Muddy track. Do they run on dirt or turf or both. What are their work out times. Do they run sprint races.. 6 Furlongs or are they a distance runner.. a mile or more.... What place have they been coming in...how many time have they been in the money.. first, second or third.
All of that information give you a much better chance of picking a winner, than the first option I put up does.
With out Level II and learning how it helps you, your just playing stocks by using the first option... your listening to everyone and your picking something based on what you see and like. With level II you are getting way more information and you have upped your odds of making money.
But to be clear picking a horse or a stock...its a gamble and your going to lose more often then you win. They are both gambling, and the house always comes out ahead in the end. The house in these two instances is the Track and the MM ... Market makers never lose, they get paid commission and they get all fo the info there is to know about a stock... they are the quintessential Win Win in this case
Good Luck...See you at the finish line... ;-)
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