By "investments" I meant shares owned by retail investors, and in case of a market crash options can serve as a cushion. Also, everyone has a different understanding of a difference between "trading" and "investing", in most cases when the investment horizon is less than 1 year ppl call it "trading"
You say that "options are high risk coz we cannot predict the future".. well, everything is a high risk then since most people imo cannot do that :) Stocks can be no less risky than options - when the company goes bust shareholders oftentimes lose 100% of their investment. But with options people can fine-tune their exposure and risk profile. For example, owning stocks and reasonably OTM puts would mitigate the investor's exposure to that particular company.
I find your concerns about options trading reasonable though, especially after the Robinhood experience. Just like you said RH doesn't provide any meaningful tools effectively turning options trading in a compulsive gambling. The way how they treated their clients (in fact not clients but an inventory, MM are their real customers) leaves much to be desired, and yes, retail options traders should have an SLA in place with their broker unless they don't mind being an inventory.
You say that "options are high risk coz we cannot predict the future".. well, everything is a high risk then since most people imo cannot do that :) Stocks can be no less risky than options - when the company goes bust shareholders oftentimes lose 100% of their investment. But with options people can fine-tune their exposure and risk profile. For example, owning stocks and reasonably OTM puts would mitigate the investor's exposure to that particular company.
I find your concerns about options trading reasonable though, especially after the Robinhood experience. Just like you said RH doesn't provide any meaningful tools effectively turning options trading in a compulsive gambling. The way how they treated their clients (in fact not clients but an inventory, MM are their real customers) leaves much to be desired, and yes, retail options traders should have an SLA in place with their broker unless they don't mind being an inventory.