In this study, I examined which hedging strategies using exchange-traded options and futures can be successfully employed for portfolio management during economic crises. To this end, I analyzed price, interest rate, and volatility data for the twelve largest financial and economic crises between 1987 and 2022, and used these to reconstruct the performance of portfolios with and without derivative strategies. Using the R programming environment, I calculated the daily settlement prices of options according to Black-Scholes-Merton for portfolio construction. For the analysis of futures trading strategies, I calculated 20 different metrics to measure the premium balance, the impact on performance, and the risk of each of the 53 standardized futures trading strategies considered. Overall, the results align more closely with the arguments of behavioral economists. For them, derivatives are financial instruments that help limit risks and efficiently distribute them among multiple market participants during crises. The trading data evaluated in this study showed that financial and economic crises cause significant asset losses for many market participants if no hedging measures are taken. The results of this study are therefore relevant to every market participant holding an equity component in their portfolio, regardless of assets under management. There are no restrictions for affected market participants with respect to industry or investment objectives.