Fact: According to the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), only 10% of option contracts are exercised. That does NOT mean 90% of options contracts then expire worthless.
Instead, the CBOE reports that 55% to 60% of options contracts are closed out prior to expiration. This changes everything. Whether those options are closed out for a gain or a loss isn’t know, but it shows that 90% of options do not, in fact, expire worthless.
More numbers, per the Options Clearning Corporation (OCC):
According to historical OCC statistics for the year 2015 (for activity in customer and firm accounts), the breakdown is as follows:
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Position closed by selling the option: 71.3%
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Exercised: 7.0%
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Held and allowed to expire worthless: 21.7%
So you can see the even MORE positions are closed out per the OCC.
Selling options isn’t inherently better than buying options.
Enlightenment Investing 