IBM plunged more than $5 yesterday after springing a nasty trap on bulls on the opening bar. It worked out perfectly for us, though, because we were able to short two August 170 puts for 1.15 — slightly less than we paid a while back for two August 175 puts when the stock was trading near its all-time high, 185.63.  The net result is a bearish position that can make us as much as $1000 if we are right but cost us no more than $10 if we are wrong.  In effect, we are getting 100-to-1 odds against the stock’s sinking to $170 or lower by August 19.  The cherry on top is that we stand to make $200 per point at expiration for each point IBM is trading below $175 — just 2.8% below current levels.  This is the only way to play put options, as far as I’m concerned, since no retail customer I have met in nearly 40 years of option trading has made amy real money buying puts.  Better to leg into positions that have almost no-risk and plenty of upside. Now we can forget about it and relax. In the meantime, I will continue to look for trades that even novices can do that have the potential to pay for the cost of an annual subscription to Rick’s Picks. Want to learn how to do this trick yourself? Click here for a free trial subscription to Rick’s Picks.