0DTE

Today ran two Iron Fly bots in the same afternoon session. Same strategy, same $40 wings, same 100% stop loss rule. One lost $1,531. The other made $35 and closed clean at 3:59 PM. The only difference was a 30-minute gap in entry time. Here’s what happened. The Two Setups Both bots were looking for the same thing: sell the ATM straddle, buy $40 wings, collect premium, and let the afternoon session decay the position toward zero. ...

Morning trades are different. The first hour after the open is where implied volatility is highest, spreads are widest, and the market is still figuring out where it wants to go. A 9:32 AM Iron Condor entry is a bet that after all that noise settles, SPX will park somewhere inside your range for the rest of the morning. Today, that bet nearly failed twice. Then it paid out exactly as designed. ...

Most traders talk about ’tight stops’ and ’locking in profits,’ but today’s trade was about the opposite: pure mechanical commitment. The bot I used for this afternoon session is named ‘2:00pm - Ironfly - $40 width - No Profit & No Stoploss.’ It’s a strategy designed to let the math play out fully until the final minutes of the market. No flinching, no early exits, just a bet on the 7130 pin. ...

Trading 0DTE options is often painted as a high-stress “click-fest,” but today was a perfect example of why I’ve moved toward full automation. When you have a solid set of rules and a bot to enforce them, a “volatile” morning becomes just another data point. Today’s trade was a textbook Iron Condor on the SPX, entered right after the opening bell. The Strategy 🛠️ The goal here was simple: capture the high implied volatility (IV) at the open and bet that SPX would stay within a defined range for the morning session. ...

Zero days to expiration (0DTE) options have become one of the most actively traded instruments in the modern market. On a typical trading day, 0DTE SPX options account for more than 40–50% of all SPX options volume. The reason is simple: the theta decay is at its most powerful, the mechanics are well-defined, and for systematic sellers, the daily reset provides a clean, repeatable trading cycle. This guide covers everything you need to know to understand, evaluate, and trade 0DTE options — especially the iron condor approach on SPX. ...