[trader220]

Originally Posted by Arthropraxis

Options are great for short term trades up or down, more bang for your buck than buying the stock. Buy several months out in time to decrease the loss due to time degradation, one or two strike prices out of the money. Sell the option contract when you would sell the stock for a trade, not an investment.
Like others have said they can be used as insurance. Or, on stocks you own and don't plan on selling sell the out of the money calls/puts monthly, depending on the market movement, use that money to buy more of that stock when the stock is at a good price.

I don’t agree. Buying more time increases your risk since there is more premium to lose. Out of the money calls also drastically underperform the market for the reason I touched on above. If abc is trading at 100 and you buy the two month 110 call, say for two bucks, if the stock moves to 105 or 107 in a few weeks that call is probably going to be worth less than you paid. The implied volatility variable will go down as the stock moves higher and therefore the price of the call will severely underperform the market.