system
A chat on subreddit /r/wallstreetbets
human
Can you close covered options whenever you want? Or does it stay active til expiration?   If so, I don't get it. If you wrote them, how come you can close them. Like if I sold a put, how come I can just close the contract? Isn't another person holding it by buying it from me?

gpt
You sell to open and buy to close when writing options and can do so whenever.  Your specific contract that is sold isn't tied to the buyer or seller, so you don't buy 'your' contract back. You just have to buy or sell a contract to balance the equation.  You're really working with a clearinghouse that handles all this as a middleman between buyer and seller.