These past couple of days reviewing options trades, the more I look at it, the more I think time value is quite "elitist": when the market is stagnant, it slowly eats away at the buyer’s money like a snack; when the market really moves, the seller’s heart starts pounding, and the small premium earned feels like buying themselves anxiety. To put it simply, buyers are betting on “fast and big,” while sellers are betting on “slow and not too big,” and who gets eaten depends on how much time you leave in the market.

What I care about more now is: am I really buying volatility, or am I just buying a narrative to comfort myself… Sometimes, even if I judge the direction correctly, dragging on too long can still lose to time. Conversely, sellers seem stable, but when they suddenly spike, with slippage + hedge costs stacking up, it’s no longer attractive, and it’s brutal.

Lately, the fuss about NFT royalties also feels similar: creators want continuous earnings over time, while traders just want secondary sales to be smoother and cheaper. Who’s being “eaten by time/friction” can be seen clearly. Anyway, I’ll just reduce my position size first, prefer to earn less than get worn out by time.