@Living Stone:Sometimes, when I sell a put option, the price of the option will rise for a few days before it goes down to zero at expiration. I'm guessing it is because the underlying stock price is decreasing toward the strike price, and then when the stock price bounces back up, the price of the option goes down, which is what I want it to do so I can buy it back at about three cents on expiration day. In the worst case scenario the stock price continues to decline below the put option strike price with no chance of bouncing back before expiration. When that happens I buy back the option at a higher price and take a loss. If I catch it soon enough, I can counteract the loss by selling a call option with the same expiration date at a higher strike price, and then buy it back at about three cents to make a profit near expiration.