&gt; To say you &quot;lose nothing&quot; seems a strange way to describe an option you have to pay for and which has no value without clearing the contract cost.<p>Well you can only lose what you put in and the option itself costs a fraction of the share price. Put option owners were certainly feeling a lot better today than short sellers (though call option owners were feeling best--some lucky owners of the Dec 11 65 calls are up 239900%!).