Berkshire’s 4th quarter results were propped up by Buffett’s $1.05Bn gains in derivatives betting (something Buffett himself once called "weapons of mass financial destruction" but, as we well know - if you can’t beat them…), which accounted for 1/3 of Berkshire’s $3.06Bn profits.

With just 1 day left being Friday July 17, 2009, for the July options expiration, there are still several Buy/Write option strategies which will yield high returns (considering the probabilities and it is just 1 trading day). In this post I am using the highly volatile Direxion ETF shares, which seek to return 3 times a specific basket of stocks.

As promised in my last two posts, Alternate Short Strategy: Purchasing Put Protection for Less, and Alternate Short Strategy: Purchasing Put Protection for Less Part 2 I will be continuing my list of alternate ways to hedge your portfolio without shorting the stock.