BP sets aside more funds for legal settlements

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a July bear-call credit spread above the $80 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in four and a half months as long as BP is below $80 at July expiration. BP would have to rise by more than 25% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

BP hasn't been above $80 at all in the past year and has shown resistance around $59 recently. This trade could be risky if oil prices continue to rise sharply in the coming months, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance BP could find from its 200-day moving average, which is currently at $70.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in BP.