Your understanding of the market doesn't consider that there are big players who overshadow everyone else. Yes, everybody prepares for the expiration of an opti

Your understanding of the market doesn't consider that there are big players who overshadow everyone else. Yes, everybody prepares for the expiration of an option, but very few players can do anything to influence prices. Only a handful of institutions can successfully trade around these expiries, which is what the commenter above is mentioning.