Options: a game with fire for those who are not afraid to get burned

Options trading is like Russian roulette for those who find regular trading too boring. You buy the right, not the obligation, to buy or sell some stock or crypto at a fixed price. Sounds simple, right? But in reality, it's a damn puzzle!

How it all began: from ancient Greeks to modern speculators

Once options were a toy for the wealthy fat cats of Wall Street. In the 70s, this Chicago Board Options Exchange appeared, and off it went... Now any novice with a phone can press buttons and imagine themselves a great financier. The democratization, damn it! But money is lost by everyone just as quickly.

How it actually works

Options come in two types - calls and puts. A call is a bet on a rise, while a put is a bet on a fall. Simply put, you either believe the price will go up, or that everything will crash down. And you know what? In most cases, you will lose because the price is influenced by a devilish mix of factors: volatility, time until expiration, market sentiment, and the phase of the moon!

The reality that "experts" remain silent about

I have seen people lose everything on these options, thinking they found a gold mine. Companies, of course, use them to hedge risks — it's like insurance against a financial apocalypse. But individuals? Most just hope to guess the direction of the asset's movement, investing less money than would be needed to buy the asset itself.

During high volatility, trading volumes skyrocket — everyone wants to either hedge or, more often, make quick money off the panic. And you know what? Most of these "geniuses" leave with empty pockets!

Technologies: New Toys for Old Gambling Games

Technologies! Oh yes, now we have algorithms, artificial intelligence, and other nonsense. Trading platforms have made options available to every idiot with the internet. They show beautiful charts, calculate probabilities, but they fail to mention that mathematical models regularly collapse when faced with the real world.

What’s next? More ways to lose money!

The future of options trading? Even more clever algorithms, even more people who think they have outsmarted the system. AI and machine learning only exacerbate the situation — now you can lose money at rocket speed!

Yes, options are a powerful tool. Like a chainsaw. In skilled hands, it gets the job done, but in unskilled hands, it cuts off limbs. And while big players are making fortunes from it, ordinary traders most often just sponsor their success with their money.

And remember: when everyone talks about "risk management" through options, they are often just coming up with a nice name for gambling on the exchange. Be careful, comrades!