The most-quoted statistic in options trading is being called out as a bad reason to sell options — a warning for small traders lured in by "free money" pitches.

• The line that 90% of options expire worthless is the standard hook in options courses and ads, and it does not mean selling options is safe.
• Selling plain options wins most of the time, which is exactly what makes it dangerous.
• The rare loss can wipe out everything, so a long string of small gains gets multiplied by zero.
• Selling far out-of-the-money options carries the same trap: high hit rate, catastrophic tail risk.
• There are ways to structure options trades that work, but the simple sell-and-collect version has bankrupted plenty of people.

Outlook: Expect more detail on the structures that actually manage this risk, as this is the opening piece of a longer series.