The markets are in a funk about the public-debt crisis in Greece. The country was clearly not ready for euro membership and now faces some hard choices: Make savage budget cuts and plunge into a deep recession; default on its debts; plead for a bailout from its EU partners; or quit the euro.

But, hey, there might be money to be made from this Greek tragedy. The way to do it is by swapping Hungarian bonds for Greek ones, selling the euro, ditching Spanish and Portuguese assets, and shorting the Athens stock market.

The Greek crisis is accelerating all the time. Last week, Greek bonds plunged as the markets took a look at government plans to cut a budget deficit running at 12.7 per cent of gross domestic product. Traders decided the numbers didn't add up. There was speculation that a bailout was being organised by the European central bank (ECB), or the EU.

Greece's troubles seeped into the currency markets, dragging down the euro.

The markets are demanding answers, and in the next few weeks they may get them.

Money-making chances

Until the crisis is resolved, though, there will be plenty of opportunities to make money. Here are five places to start:

One, buy every Greek bond you can. Greek 10-year bonds yield 6.6 per cent, compared with 3.2 per cent for German debt. So long as default is avoided, and Greece stays in the euro area, your Greek bonds will soar in price.

Two: Sell Hungarian and Polish Government bonds. Both aim to join the euro area at some point in the coming decade, at which point interest rates would fall in line with the ECB benchmark, and bond prices would soar.

Three: Sell the euro. Every day, EU and ECB officials line up to declare that the Greeks won't get any help. Officially, that might be true. There are plenty of ways to help out on the sly. Greece could be allowed to issue bonds jointly with other countries; or the EU could find a way of increasing "structural" subsidies for the Greek Government. The markets will smell a bailout, however, even if it comes packaged in some fancy label. Investors will ditch the currency, and switch back to the dollar and the yen.

Four: Sell Portuguese and Spanish bonds. Let's suppose the worst happens: Greece defaults on its debts. Not only will Greek bonds collapse in price, so will the debts of other vulnerable euro-area countries. The markets will pick them off one by one, with Portugal and Spain next in line, and Ireland close behind.

Five: Sell Greek stocks. The Athens stock exchange's benchmark, the ASE Composite Index, has fallen 15 per cent in the past six months. Inside the euro area, Greece faces years of recession or slow growth as public spending is slashed to curb the budget deficit.

This isn't a cynical exercise. Thinking about how to profit from a catastrophe is a good way of considering the different plausible outcomes, and what likelihood to ascribe each one.