>You don't need it if you're short, because you get your payout immediately when you go short I don't know of any exchange that would let you withdraw premium

>You don't need it if you're short, because you get your payout immediately when you go short I don't know of any exchange that would let you withdraw premium before the short position was closed/expired. If you thought that happened once before, it's only because you are using margin collateralized with other assets on that exchange.