Lately, I've been struggling again with whether to be a buyer or a seller in options, basically wrestling with time value: as a buyer, I wake up every day being "chronically drained," feeling uncomfortable if the direction isn't aggressive enough or the volatility isn't big enough; as a seller, it seems like collecting rent, but when a big move hits, the premium collected earlier isn't enough to cover the lesson. Especially now, with interest rate cut expectations bouncing back and forth, the US dollar index sometimes rises and falls with risk assets, making their correlation chaotic. The stable structures I once thought existed are becoming quite awkward.

I now prefer to admit: I'm not here to prove who is right or wrong, I'm here to survive. If I want to bet on the direction, I reduce my position size and treat the buyer side as a stop-loss; if I want to earn time, I sell but take tail risk seriously. When it comes to safety, I’m willing to go the extra mile: I’d rather spend a bit more to buy protection further out, and keep a thicker margin—earning less is okay, as long as I don’t get wiped out by a single needle.