i can cure chartists, page-74

"Why is the market zero sum?
Say I buy a share at $10 and two years later it goes to $12 and I sell."


The market is zero-sum because it *adds-zero* to the return of the asset. Value is intrinsic to the asset itself, not to the buying & selling of it.
$2 in two years is the maximum return which can be earned from that share, regardless of whether it was owned by the same person for the whole two years or whether it was traded 100 times or whether the market was closed or whether it was a share of an unlisted company or whether ....


And I say *maximum* because the more the share is traded the more commissions and realised capital gains tax will be p1ssed away.

Simple really.