With the fees, options are (slightly) negative sum. I'm a boglehead, but as I see it there are only 2 valid reasons to consider option trading: - Hedging: e.g

With the fees, options are (slightly) negative sum. I'm a boglehead, but as I see it there are only 2 valid reasons to consider option trading: - Hedging: e.g. if a big part of your comp is in illiquid private stock in a company whose outcome is highly correlated to IndustryX, you may want to hedge that with options. Not positive sum in absolute terms but you're paying to reduce risk. - Tax arbitrage: e.g. On a block of stock you got from an IPO. Positive sum from your perspective. Both are a lot of work to do right and neither one is a silver bullet.