Almost all large short-term trading desks make a conscious choice to insulate themselves from directional price changes. Either with delta-netural strategies--s

Almost all large short-term trading desks make a conscious choice to insulate themselves from directional price changes. Either with delta-netural strategies--strategies where reasonable changes in price don't make a difference--or just by having a mix of favorable bets in all different directions, so that the majority of them going sour is unlikely. I know traders who think that many price moves in the market are due to insider trading they're not privy to. Since every trader, to my knowledge, seems to think this--even the ones at big investment banks--it's hard to say whether it's superstition or not, but it doesn't stop them from being profitable with only "outsider information".