New Delhi, April 1 -- When uncertainty rises, retail traders reach for options.

When Trump's Liberation Day tariffs struck global markets in April 2025, average daily notional F&O turnover climbed to Rs.229 trillion, the highest since November 2024. Every fear event produces the same pattern: retail traders flood into options, most often choosing straddles and strangles.

A straddle involves buying a call and a put at the same strike price, profiting if the market moves sharply in either direction. A strangle is cheaper, placing the call above and the put below the current price, but it requires an even larger move to profit.

Both appear logical in uncertain times: direction-neutral and clean. In practice, they consistently disappoint....