That margin pretty much kills it - tying up that much for $25k...

That margin pretty much kills it - tying up that much for $25k doesnt seem worth it.
Time decay kills on options and the MMs have us beat in every way except one. black swan events.
The only strategy that is worthwhile imho is buying deep out of the money puts on cos or indices that will pay off mega when you are right. Only buy the ones that show promise like APT when it hits $100 ($10 puts or something) (just an eg). close positions when they are obviously wrong and others will expire worthless but any that are right will pay enough to make up for it.
Its hard in Aust because most of the option writers (MMs) wont write an option they have large downside risk to ie like an APT put option (or warrant - try finding one of those). So the opportunities only present a few times a year - like feb before the crash. imho.