Ann: Westpac announces $3.5 billion off-market share buy-back, page-165

It's a sure way to make money! Unlike US banks which are too high, Australian banks are pillars of OZ economy. It's cash for the taking. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time! I could not play Aust banks for the last 6 months as they were going nowhere. Now, I get this golden chance. Geez! 10% premium for puts does not come without a sudden 8% drop like this. If you hedge your options with long puts at strike 20 ($10 per contract), you could even play the worth of 2000 shares ($46000) with a capital of just $6000. For a classic play, you must make sure you have $46000 cash to accept the shares on Dec 16 and the alternative is a massive profit without buying the shares

Basically, you just keep all the cash you get from participating in the buyback ready to back your short puts! Don't use it for anything else until Dec 16 while you wait for the put options to expire. Adding this to the CGT benefit of having nominal loss (if you have to pay tax), it's a good game. Sure, you only play it if you have enough WBC shares and capital invested in WBC to start with. For me, I don't have any shares. I just play as I see it is a good opportunity

I am sitting on a pile of cash as I sold many stocks recently. So, it's in for the kill using WBC as the vehicle.