A method of protecting at least a portion of an initial investment value
of an investment made by an investor including the steps of: providing a
business entity; electing the business entity to be treated as a
regulated investment company; holding positions using the business entity
in a set of put-option based instruments having a first underlying
reference and a set of call-option based instruments having a second
underlying reference, the first underlying reference being the same as or
substantially correlated to the second underlying reference, so that the
sets of put-option based instruments and call-option based instruments
provide the at least a portion of the initial investment value at
maturity of the investment; and making available the at least a portion
of the initial investment value to the investor upon the maturity of the
investment.