when should you buy leaps 
if you have a medium term time horizon then a leaps call may be a good speculative bet on a stock that you think will rise you can also buy leaps puts as a medium term downside hedge against existing positions can you lose money with leaps yes leaps involve risk and you can lose up to your full investment when purchasing one if it ultimately expires worthless selling leaps is also risky as you are exposed to theoretically unlimited losses if the underlying security moves against you 