[mrbaseball]

LEAPS are just longer term options, usually expiring in a year or longer.

What you want to do is learn option theory as all LEAPS are just options. Since they are longer out they hold more time premium which decreases at a slower rate due to the length of the contract. They are also more vulnerable to moves in volatility.

I use LEAPS as both hedges and parts of speculative spread trades. But for these contracts you should have a good grasp of option volatility or "vega" because you can get a move supposedly in your direction while volatily drops and your option loses value due to the volatility changes. Visa versa is also very possible. In actuality volatility has more of a force on prices of these things than price movement in many instances. The closer you get to expiration price moves and time decay start to overshadow volatility.

Get a good options book and read up!