### Comment:
[im fairly certain the figures include purchased options](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/optioninvestor/03/100103.asp) 
  
 usually, even if you guess the correct direction as the buyer, people make horrible decisions regarding expiration dates and the size of moves. are fortunes made? sure. some. but far more fortunes are lost by trading options.  
  
 the house always wins, even if some people hit the jackpot from time to time.

### REPLY:
The figure includes only positions that are still open at market close on the expiration date. 
  
 It does not include positions that were closed before that point. Selling a position that is in the money is easier than exercising the same position, while a position that is out of the money on the expiration date is typically impossible to sell. So that biases the statistics towards most bad positions expiring worthless and most good positions closing out before expiration.

### END.