Actually, I've been working on a little options strategy which requires cash as a backup. I believe it's called a "strangle." I've been doing this for a couple of months now, and so far, so good. The basic idea is to sell both calls and puts with strike prices a couple of dollars out of the money, collect the premiums and hope they expire worthless. As far as I'm concerned, the perfect stock for this is GDX. The premiums are high, and because it's an ETF, it can't go up or down 50% overnight (which would kill anyone writing options).

If the stock moves past the strike price, cash is then required. For example, if GDX runs up, I'll buy the stock around the strike price in order to cover the call. If it runs down, I'll short it (unless I feel comfortable having it assigned, & therefore owning it).

I like this little strategy because it requires very little time, and yet it's still fun. It only makes about 3% per month, but that's better than I've done trading stocks in 2010.