High risks, rewards and potential losses

Be warned before you proceed, however. This market's hottest plays are also the riskiest.

Explosive rallies happen in even the worst bear markets, and these funds move just as fast the wrong way. A sudden 15% advance could drain away nearly half of the miserably few dollars you've got left at this point if you have them in a leveraged short fund.

But if you think we ain't seen nothing yet, you stand to make a killing while the rest of us are sucked into poverty. You can make a buck -- or two or three -- for every dollar the guy on the long side loses.

You probably can't access these short funds from your 401(k), unless it has a mutual fund window that allows you to buy any fund. But you can buy the funds from any straight brokerage account, whether taxable or tax-deferred (such as an IRA).

It's much easier to buy these funds than to short individual stocks. See " for details on that.

There are scores of short ETFs and a handful of mutual funds to consider. Gains in the range of 60% in little more than two months are common with the leveraged versions. Direxion Financial Bear 3X Shares had galloped ahead 179% so far this year, as of March 5.

Still, leverage adds rocket fuel to what's already a roller-coaster ride, so laying down a bet like this more closely resembles assisted suicide than a search for safety. You cannot watch these positions too closely.

There's also a lot of concern on Wall Street right now that the growth of such funds is helping keep the market down. That may be true, though a cynic might wonder if Wall Street isn't simply upset that we've caught on to a game the pros have been playing for quite a while.