Is it better to buy options or to short them? Which has better odds?

Zerodha Zerodha trivia
1

When you trade options, you can either:
a. Buy options - Calls or Puts
b. Short options - Calls or puts

I wanted to know,
Which do you think in a or b, has better odds of winning.
What % of options expires out of the money? and what can you infer from this data?
Two positives and negatives of option shorting? "

2

1 “B” writing options have better odds of winning.
2- Between 80-90% of options expire out of the money. Hence the highest probability to win is to write OTM options.

However its recommended to have a hedged position as the loss while writing options is unlimited

Positives and negatives of option shorting?

  1. The Time decay / Time value is always working in favor of the option writer. Hence increasing the probability of winning.
  2. If the option is closing out of the money as most of them do, nobody usually exercises the option hence the writer gets to keep the full premium.
  3. The writer receives the potential profits upfront, which can be a used in favor while doing a spread to reduce margin requirements.
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