In a literal market, you can find alpha in tomato trading by:
(1) monitoring other people’s tomato transactions in as much detail as possible;
(2) spying on people who are about to buy tomatoes and rapidly make changes behind the scenes just before they make a purchase; or
(3) pointing voice analysis at The Food Network looking out for recipes that call for fresh tomatoes, tracking tomato tankers in major sea lanes, monitoring storm tracks in the top tomato growing zones, etc, and adjusting your position appropriately.
It sounds like you are trying (1) when (3) might be better, or even (2) if you are not jail-averse (or your local jurisdiction has institutionalized high speed market fiddling to the point of being legal.)
As in a town square market, as seen in human culture for the last few thousand years.
For non-native speakers, market has a specific meaning in US English. In the US a “market” typically means a small shop selling the most common fruits, vegetables, snacks, and household items.
In Europe a market is a larger and more general area for autonomous small traders, usually also trading food and household goods.
The autonomy and low barrier to entry make them a good analogy to a stock market.
(They also suffer from availability and quality issues. A large business can arrange to purchase and retail all of these goods on behalf of consumers under one roof — a supermarket.)
(1) monitoring other people’s tomato transactions in as much detail as possible;
(2) spying on people who are about to buy tomatoes and rapidly make changes behind the scenes just before they make a purchase; or
(3) pointing voice analysis at The Food Network looking out for recipes that call for fresh tomatoes, tracking tomato tankers in major sea lanes, monitoring storm tracks in the top tomato growing zones, etc, and adjusting your position appropriately.
It sounds like you are trying (1) when (3) might be better, or even (2) if you are not jail-averse (or your local jurisdiction has institutionalized high speed market fiddling to the point of being legal.)