Tip, I will buy many more calls, and even long stocks, at the true panic low. But the ones I'm buying now are for the quadruple bounce, not the 1000%+ moves of a true panic. Heck, I've gotta do something while I wait, and we always have bounces before the next cascade down.
I like the big brokerage firms, especially the institutional ones, on the put side. The regionals can be fun, as were First Onion and Bancone a year or so ago. I think there is plenty of downside there, but they tend not to be thrown away as easily as the money centers. I would say a mix of two money centers for each regional would fit fine. And don't forget the insurance scamsters, especially those in the financial area, MBIA and AMBAC. |
