Buyer vs Seller
Buying an option is like buying a lottery ticket: you pay a small fixed amount, usually lose it, but occasionally win big. Selling an option is like being the insurance company: you collect small premiums from lots of people, win most of the time, but a rare disaster can cost you a lot. Neither is 'better' — they're opposite trades.
The single most important fork in options: are you the buyer (long) or the seller (short)? They are mirror images with completely different risk, probability, and psychology.
The buyer: limited risk, big upside, low odds
An option buyer can only lose the premium paid — risk is capped and known. The upside can be large (a long call has unlimited upside). But buyers fight two enemies: time decay (theta bleeds value every day) and the need for a real move. Most bought options expire worthless. Buyers win less often but win big when they do.
The seller: high odds, capped gain, tail risk
An option seller collects the premium up front and profits if the option expires worthless — which, statistically, most do. Sellers win often. But the gain is capped at the premium while the loss can be large (a naked short call is theoretically unlimited). Sellers are picking up coins; the discipline is never being standing in front of the steamroller when a tail event hits.
Probability vs payoff
There is no free lunch. The buyer trades a low probability of profit for a large potential payoff; the seller trades a small capped payoff for a high probability of profit. Which is "better" depends entirely on volatility: buying is attractive when options are cheap (low IV), selling when they are expensive (high IV). That is why the IV dashboard matters.