01 · ORIGINATIONNobody sets the line
Every market opens at 50/50 with almost no depth behind it. The first person with a real opinion can move the price to where they think it belongs for about a dollar. Wait, and it costs more — depth builds with age. The number is discovered by whoever shows up first, not handed down by a book with a margin baked in.
02 · PAYOUTYou split the pool, not the house
Winning tickets share the money that was paid into that market. Pile onto the side everyone else is buying and you split it more ways. Take the side nobody wants and you keep nearly all of it. Being right is not enough here — being right and lonely is what pays.
03 · LIQUIDITYSell before the ninth
The side everyone is buying stays tight: get in and back out for around a percent, whenever you want. The quiet side is wide and closes slowly, because somebody has to be paid to sit on the other end of your ticket. That asymmetry is deliberate.