Four wins. One loss. A week that looked fine on paper but had one genuinely horrible minute buried inside it.
The S&P 500 spent most of May 4–8 in a slow-motion melt-up toward the 7,400 level. The bot entered at 2:00 PM each day, collected premium , and held until 3:59 PM. Four out of five times that went exactly as expected. Wednesday was the exception — and the way it went wrong is worth understanding in detail.
Weekly Performance: May 4–8, 2026
| Date | Strike | Entry SPX | Credit | IV | Exit SPX | PnL ($) | PnL (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 4 (Mon) | 7,205 | 7,206.07 | $11.55 | 13.60% | 7,200.95 | +$697.00 | +60.40% |
| May 5 (Tue) | 7,265 | 7,263.05 | $7.90 | 8.90% | 7,259.98 | +$310.00 | +39.20% |
| May 6 (Wed) | 7,345 | 7,344.79 | $9.40 | 10.70% | 7,366.75 | -$1,255.00 | -133.50% |
| May 7 (Thu) | 7,340 | 7,340.54 | $15.80 | 17.80% | 7,336.91 | +$1,162.00 | +73.50% |
| May 8 (Fri) | 7,395 | 7,394.48 | $10.20 | 11.70% | 7,397.76 | +$700.00 | +68.60% |
Weekly total: +$1,614.00
Day by Day
Monday, May 4 — A Wobble, Then a Win
We entered at 7,206.07 with the fly centered on the 7,205 strike, collecting $11.55 in credit. IV was at 13.60% — moderate, nothing alarming.
The first six minutes were uncomfortable. SPX pushed up to 7,212.68, and the position was already down -$145.00. If you watch every tick, that opening grind higher would have you second-guessing. The bot does not second-guess.
Then the index reversed. By 2:28 PM it had swung the other way — dropping all the way to 7,196.15 — and now we were down -$217.00 on the put side. Two swings in 28 minutes, both moving against us, neither in the same direction.
Neither mattered. By 3:06 PM the position had crossed back into the green. From 3:30 PM onward it was a slow, steady profit accumulation as theta consumed what remained of the premium. We closed at 7,200.95 — just 5 points below the strike, right in the sweet spot.
Final: +$697.00 (+60.40%)
Tuesday, May 5 — Low IV, Long Afternoon
Tuesday’s IV reading was 8.90% — the lowest of the week by a wide margin. When IV is this compressed, the market is not expecting much movement, and the credit reflects it: only $7.90 collected on a 7,265 strike with SPX at 7,263.05.
That $7.90 felt thin from the start. The index opened right at the strike and spent the next hour creeping upward. By 2:22 PM it had climbed to 7,269.37, putting the position down -$72.00. Not a disaster, but for a trade that collected $790.00 in premium, being down $72.00 before 2:30 PM is not particularly comfortable.
It stayed uncomfortable for most of the afternoon. SPX spent the bulk of the session hovering between 7,265 and 7,272, oscillating just enough to keep the position in no-man’s land — sometimes marginally green, sometimes marginally red. There was no conviction either way.
The rescue came in the last 25 minutes. At 3:35 PM, SPX was still at 7,269 and the position was up just +$117.00. Then the index dropped. By 3:51 PM it had fallen to 7,261.61, well below the 7,265 strike, and the position had jumped to +$380.00. The final 8 minutes saw SPX settle around 7,257–7,260, and we closed at 7,259.98 — comfortably in profitable territory.
What looked like a grinding, inconclusive Tuesday became a solid +$310.00 (+39.20%) day, saved entirely by a late-session drift below the strike.
Wednesday, May 6 — The One-Way Train
This is the day worth spending some time on.
Entry: 7,344.79, fly centered on 7,345, credit $9.40, IV at 10.70%. Nothing about this setup screamed danger. The premium was middling. The IV was unremarkable. It looked like a normal Wednesday.
It was not.
Within 6 minutes of entry, SPX was already pressing through 7,346. By 2:17 PM it had reached 7,351.97, and the position was down -$180.00. We were short a 7,345 call, and the market was already making the case that 7,345 was not a ceiling.
The next 35 minutes bounced between -$100.00 and -$470.00 as the index oscillated in the 7,347–7,357 range. At 2:37 PM we briefly touched -$470.00 (-50.00%). A small recovery followed. Then the upward grind resumed.
For the next two hours — roughly 2:40 PM to 3:50 PM — the position was stuck in a bleed-slowly range. SPX never came back below 7,345. It just sat there, between 7,350 and 7,362, slowly widening the loss. The worst tick in this stretch was -$837.00 at 3:22 PM with SPX at 7,362.78. Unpleasant, but still within the realm of “this could come back.”
Then came 3:51 PM.
In a single 60-second candle, SPX jumped from 7,360 to 7,367.59. The position went from -$640.00 to -$1,350.00. One minute. That is what gamma does in the final 9 minutes of a 0DTE session — there is no time left for mean reversion, so a modest price move translates into a massive options value change. The short 7,345 call was now 22 points in the money with 8 minutes to expiration.
It got worse before the close. By 3:54 PM, SPX reached 7,368.07 (position -$1,365.00). At 3:56 PM we hit the worst tick of the week: SPX @ 7,368.53, position down -$1,500.00.
The bot closed at 3:59 PM with SPX at 7,366.75 — 21.75 points above the 7,345 short strike. The short call expired worth $22.00. The 7,385 protective wing was still out of the money and provided zero relief.
Final: -$1,255.00 (-133.50%)
The lesson here is not about IV, not about geopolitical news, not about whiplash. It is about a market that made a sustained, one-directional move higher over two hours, then accelerated into a gamma explosion in the last nine minutes. There was no reversal. SPX moved from 7,344 to 7,368 and stayed there.
Thursday, May 7 — The Real High IV Day
Let us correct something that often gets misframed in weekly recaps: Thursday was the high IV day, not Wednesday.
After Wednesday’s 22-point surge, the market priced elevated risk into Thursday’s options. IV came in at 17.80% — nearly double Monday’s level and the highest reading of the week. The credit reflected it: $15.80 on a 7,340 strike with SPX entering at 7,340.54.
That is a meaningful cushion. $15.80 in premium ($1,580.00 collected) means the position can absorb a 15+ point move in either direction before it starts seriously bleeding. And Thursday cooperated. SPX moved slightly lower from entry, hovered near the 7,337–7,340 zone for most of the session, and drifted below the strike into the close.
Exit: 7,336.91 — about 3.60 points below the 7,340 strike. The short call expired nearly worthless at $0.08. The short put had $4.20 of value remaining, comfortably covered by the premium already collected.
This is what IV crush looks like when it works: fat premium at entry, an index that goes nowhere dramatic, and theta doing its job for two full hours.
Final: +$1,162.00 (+73.50%)
Friday, May 8 — Tight Close at the Highs
The S&P 500 was knocking on the 7,400 door on Friday. We entered with SPX at 7,394.48, fly at 7,395, credit $10.20, IV at 11.70%.
Friday’s session had a different feel. SPX crossed 7,399 within three minutes of entry and sat there for much of the early afternoon, keeping the position in a mild drawdown (worst was -$90.00 around 2:03 PM at SPX 7,399.16). Not enough to seriously threaten the trade, but enough to be aware of.
The index never made a decisive move away from the 7,395 strike. It just hovered — 7,397, 7,399, 7,398 — slowly oscillating a few points above where we needed it. As the final hour approached, theta was accelerating fast, chewing through the remaining value of both options.
At 3:59 PM, SPX settled at 7,397.76 — just 2.76 points above the strike. The short call had $3.05 of value; the short put only $0.25. Net exit debit: $3.20 against $10.20 collected.
Final: +$700.00 (+68.60%)
What Wednesday Actually Teaches Us About Stops
The standard way to write up a day like Wednesday is: “market moved against us, took the defined-risk loss, moved on.” Clean, clinical, slightly dishonest.
The minute-by-minute data tells a more useful story.
For the first 2 hours and 40 minutes of Wednesday’s trade, the position ranged between roughly -$150.00 and -$837.00. Painful, but survivable. A stop-loss set at 100% of premium received ($940.00) would have been triggered somewhere in this band. A stop at 150% ($1,410.00) would also have been hit before 3:45 PM.
But here is the problem: both of those stops would have saved you nothing meaningful. Because the bulk of the loss — from -$640.00 to -$1,255.00 — happened in the last 9 minutes, on a gamma-driven spike that no reasonable stop placement would have anticipated.
A stop wide enough to survive the 2:15–3:45 PM range (-$200.00 to -$800.00) would have let you ride straight to -$1,255.00 at the close. A tighter stop would have closed you out during the volatile middle period at a loss, and you would still have missed the Monday and Thursday wins that more than covered Wednesday.
This is the real argument for accepting the defined-risk structure of an Iron Fly over mechanical stops . The loss distribution is not smooth or predictable intraday. The $40.00 wing at entry caps the maximum possible loss. Everything within that cap is just noise — including a -$1,500.00 tick at 3:56 PM that corrected to -$1,255.00 three minutes later.
The Week in One Sentence
The market handed us four cooperative sessions, one relentless directional loss, and a reminder that 0DTE gamma is not polite in the final minutes — and after all of it, the week closed at +$1,614.00.
Related Reading
- Four Days of the 2 PM Iron Fly: A Week Without an Exit Button — the previous week’s recap for this same bot
- 0DTE SPX: The Ride or Die Iron Fly — what holding to expiry really looks like
- 0DTE SPX: Same Strategy, 30 Minutes Apart, Completely Different Story — a deeper look at why stop-loss timing matters
- 0DTE Options Trading: The Complete Guide — everything about same-day expiration strategies
- Why We Sell Premium Instead of Buying It — the statistical edge behind this approach
Disclaimer: This log is for educational purposes only. 0DTE options carry significant risk. Always trade within your risk tolerance.