We hold the August 175-170 put spread twice for a 0.05 debit.  That means the most we can lose is $5 per spread, or $10 total, while we stand to gain as much as $495 per spread if the stock is trading 170 or lower when the options expire on August 19.  Although I’d like to close out one of the spreads today for around $260, the gap between bid and asked for the puts is so wide that a less-than-stellar execution could cost us as much as $25 per spread.  If you can get the spread off at that price without having to leg it, that’s what I’ll suggest.  Please let me know via e-mail or in the chat room, though, since it will give me a better idea of the capabilities of those who are trading my option recommendations.  Otherwise, we’ll attempt to leg out of half the position, buying an Auggie 170 put to close if the opportunity presents itself.  Stay tuned for an intraday alert!  Shortly before 4 a.m., the stock was approaching a Hidden Pivot support at 170.34.  I hesitate to suggest bottom-fishing our way out of the spread at that price, though, because it is so close to the 170.63 launching pad whence Big Blue surged to its 185.76 high. My reasoning is that a breach of 170.63 would likely run enough stops to take it below the 170.34 Hidden Pivot. _______ UPDATE (1:56 p.m. EDT):  We’ve done nothing officially yet, although the spread could have been exited for as much as $350 this morning when IBM was getting bombed. For the record — and I am not proud to be bringing you this fact belatedly, when it will do you no good — an easy way to have effectively “covered” the put spread would have entailed buying the Aug 170-175 call spread. The best you could have done, buying the 170 calls at their $350 low, then shorting a Sep 175 at $3 on the current bounce, would have given you a four-sided, riskless “box” for a 0.50 debit. Since the box will always be worth $5 (give or take, depending on dividend and interest factors), it would have been equivalent to closing out our put spreads for 4.50 (for a $445 profit per, or an $890 total). For now, sit tight with the position.  With IBM in the throes of a spectacular short-squeeze, the spread is still selling for around $235, yielding a paper gain for us of $460.