This past week, I sat down for an interview with the author of Options Trading for Dummies, Joe Duarte, and my friend Jason Perz. We covered a wide range of topics geared toward helping newer traders get more comfortable with options. But what stuck with me most wasn’t a technical point or a strategy—it was an unexpected insight that hit me like a flash of clarity.
It came from something Jason said in passing, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since:
Options traders are always fighting time.
And that works against us in two major ways.
1. Options Force Us to Time the Market
We’ve all heard it: “You can’t time the market.” And yet, if you’re trading options, you’re doing exactly that—whether you mean to or not.
Every options trade comes with an expiration date. That means your thesis has to not only be directionally correct, but correct within a specific window of time. If the stock moves in your favor after your contracts expire, you were still right—but it won’t matter. You’ll be left holding the bag.
Most of us aren’t wired for that kind of precision. Market timing is notoriously difficult, even for seasoned professionals. And yet, trading options almost guarantees we have to take that gamble again and again.
2. Time in the Market > Timing the Market
This is a bedrock principle of investing: it’s not about timing the market—it’s about time in the market.
The longer you stay invested, the more your odds of success increase. That’s why buy-and-hold works. It’s why dollar-cost averaging over decades tends to outperform most active approaches. Time is your friend.
But with options? It’s the opposite. Time is your enemy, particularly when long premium. Every day that passes chips away at the value of your positions. Theta decay never sleeps. And the longer you’re in the trade, the more you need things to go just right to make money.
These two truths—options require precision timing, and time itself works against you—are in direct conflict with what most people know (and feel) about investing.
Which is why options trading forces you to evolve.
You can’t rely on traditional buy-and-hold instincts. You need to develop new muscles—short-term thinking, tactical execution, defined risk, emotional detachment. That doesn’t come naturally for most people. It takes practice, patience, and a whole lot of self-awareness.
This is where the work is.
This is where we start to discover who we are as traders—how we handle pressure, how we manage uncertainty, how we adapt when the market doesn’t cooperate.
And if you’re willing to do that work, the payoff isn’t just better trades. It’s becoming a more grounded, resilient, and intentional version of yourself.
Join hundreds of traders, like you, who are doing the work in the All Star Options community.
Sean McLaughlin | Chief Options Strategist, All Star Charts
