As well as knowledge of the market in general you appear to know of how a company really is trading all the whispers etc.
Not all needs to be from city contacts or the actual company.
A few weeks ago around 8.45 i was walking past HBOS in Victora st and there was a huge queue outside it.
A few days later all the news came out about its possible collaspe, same with many of the big stories recently. Its hard to keep any news queit now days and it travels very very quickly once it out.
From what i have seen alot is being clued up about all that is happening.
Do you plan to trade for a company or on your own?
Remeber all the ones working for a firm having massive amounts of information at their finger tips, plus all the conversations and contacts some in the same room.
Its not all about buying and selling shares betting on their performance is another way which I have done. it helps to have a lot of knowledge of how companies actually are doing