We took a flyer yesterday on some Priceline calls — a trial run ahead of a new Rick’s Picks offering, the ‘Friday Jackpot‘ bet.  This is a highly leveraged speculation using put or call options that are about to expire not in days or weeks, but in mere hours. The underlying stocks that we use include such lunatic-powered high-flyers as Priceline, Apple, Google and Netflix. We’ve seen those stocks trace out price swings of $30 or more intraday. When that happens, options that can be purchased for under $1.00 can soar to $6, $8, $10 or even more.

Yesterday’s trade was a bust, as most such trades will be. Subscribers reported buying imminently expiring PCLN 1235 calls that were $30 out-of-the-money for as little as 0.95.  Alas, the calls went no higher than 1.48, then crashed too quickly for an easy exit.  Our standard practice, whenever possible, is to sell half the calls at twice the price paid for them, effectively reducing our risk for the remainder of the day to zero.  At that point traders are holding a free ticket on a 20-to-1 nag.  Not bad odds, since stocks appear to be at least somewhat more predictable than horses. Moreover, we still hold the calls bought yesterday, and even though they died in the stretch, they could conceivably come back to life if the whack-jobs who trade Priceline are feeling antsy on an expiration Friday, as they so often are.

I’ll be calling the trades in a virtual room tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. EDT. Only paid subscribers will have access to the room, but if you’d like a front row seat and don’t subscribe, click here for a free two-week trial, no credit card necessary.