I have been selling front month OTM put options on SPY (S&P 500 index ETF) since late October, due to the record volatility and corresponding fat premiums, which IMHO appeared to be the safest way to play such an oversold, yet unprecedented bear market. You may want to consider this as a lower risk alternative to a pure directional trade or sitting in cash.
This assumes you are willing to own the SP (or whatever index you choose) at the strike listed and that the strike provides enough premium to make it worthwhile. The last 5 days have reduced the VIX quite a bit, as well as driving puts deeper OTM, so one will have to accept less premium or incur more risk (higher strike).
As an example, the Dec31 SPY 80 put was ~2.55 at Friday’s close. This provides ~3.2% (38% annualized) premium for one month of risk and provides protection/break even at ~SP770 (you can opt for more “protection” and lower premiums or vice versa). The risks are that the market falls significantly below this level by year end. Also, closing the position before expiration could cause a loss even if the price of SPY is above the strike. You should familiarize yourself with the basics of options before considering such a strategy, and I would strongly recommend cash secured puts (i.e. no leverage). I would also avoid options on the 2x index ETF’s, as the dynamics of matching the daily movements at 2x can cause poor correlation over weeks or months and the b/a spreads can be wide.
