Up Tank

[NinjaAssassin]

Well, it's certainly risky in that you can literally lose 100% of your investment. But, for all intents and purposes, about the same risk exists with these pennies. Here's an example of how I would have made a ridiculous amount of money on Friday had I been more confident in myself:

Bought 2 x AAPL Weekly 630 puts @ .60 (that's $120 risked - premium * 100 shares (each contract controls 100 shares)) on Wednesday
Sold those 2 contracts Thursday morning for 115% ($1.30)
Google died Thursday afternoon and Apple felt the effects a bit, sending those puts to over 400% or over $3.00 (oops, already sold)
Friday, Apple closed at 609...the puts were worth $20.

Had I been more confident in my call and held until Friday, I could have sold those two contracts for $4000 and only risked $120.

I don't know the statistics on how often returns like that occur, but multi-baggers are not at all uncommon. I had other picks (Verizon and AT&T) that I played based on the chart, didn't have patience, and broke even (lost my commission) only to have both go in the money the following day. AT&T would have been a 6 bagger for me and that was a standard chart play.

In my opinion, options are worth learning. Go here: http://www.cboe.com/LearnCenter/Default.aspx and learn about options. Get a paper trading account through OptionsHouse or Trade Monster and practice. Technical Analysis is EXTREMELY helpful here (I'd argue it's pretty much required). It's not hard to learn the basics. As far as Iron Condors, Bull Put Spreads, etc...I'm lost. Check out the Options Millionaires board to see what people are doing. Pretty helpful to help one understand different strategies.