In the past two days, I’ve seen a bunch of unlock calendars again. Everyone keeps staring at “selling pressure anxiety” even more diligently than the K-line. So I thought, on a whim, about the whole options thing. Plainly put, the buyer is racing against time: even if you guess the direction right, that isn’t enough—you also have to be fast. The time value slowly gnaws at your position day by day, the longer it drags on, the more guilty and uneasy you feel. The seller is the opposite: they “make a living because time is on their side.” As long as you don’t run into sudden big moves, a lot of the time they’re just slowly pocketing the tuition the buyer paid. The trouble with something like unlocking is that it’s the most annoying part of all: it may not crash on the same day, but it keeps volatility expectations hanging in the air. The seller looks relaxed, but in reality they’re even more afraid of getting popped through by a single needle. Anyway, since I’m the type to react slowly, I’d rather make fewer moves. If I do act, I’ll think it through first: am I betting on direction, or am I betting on time?