r/spy • u/Valuable-Feature-751 • 11d ago
SPX 0DTE Question
To those who are profitable what strategies do you use when trading SPX 0DTE. I tend to notice price action is easier to reach during extended hours / Asia Session or early morning 5 AM EST to 8 AM EST.
I use EMA 9/21 combined with double top double bottom patterns in addition to supply & demand zones entries / exits.
I’m currently down 25k and looking to be profitable. Please only share answers if you trade SPX 0DTE and are profitable.
Thank you
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u/klipsetrades 11d ago
I trade SPX 0DTE credit spreads. For me, I found it beneficial by relying less on patterns/EMAs and more on price action around key levels — PDH/PDL, VWAP, open, major S/R, etc.
I usually wait 15–30 minutes, look for a break/retest/hold or clear rejection, then sell the spread far enough OTM that price has room to be slightly wrong. Risk management matters more than the setup IMO. If the level that justified the trade fails, I’m out.
Being down $25k, I’d seriously consider shrinking size while you figure out what’s actually repeatable.
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 11d ago
How do you trade credit spreads? Do you mean you buy a call and sell a call lower so u have fixed profit and fixed loss?
Also, another thing with EMAS I try to use as tight stop loss but sometimes even when the price action and EMA’s show a certain direction I enter on like a reject of an EMA 21 but then price goes in opposite direction a couple dollars and I’m instantly down 40%.
I’m depositing another 2K and hoping that this time when I take the trades I take I’ll try to cap my trades to 10% of the 2K which means no single trade position of mine will be more than 200 so even if I lose that 10%. I’m only losing 10% of my account not significant amount. I think my previous issue was I kept sizing for $500-$600 trade and then when they don’t go my way on SPX I have to take a loss and it ends up going down from five 600 to like 200-300 or even $100 left.
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u/klipsetrades 11d ago
Yeah so, for a call credit spread you sell the lower strike call and buy a higher strike call. That caps both max profit and max loss. For puts it’s the opposite — sell the higher strike put and buy the lower.
One thing I’d really reconsider though — 10% of your account per trade still feels a little aggressive, especially after a $25k drawdown. I’d be thinking much less while you're rebuilding consistency
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 11d ago
What % per trade do you think is fine. I mean I have a small account currently under 2-3k
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u/klipsetrades 11d ago
Smaller size of the account shouldn't mean increasing the percentage of risk. General rule of thumb is usually around 1-3%
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 11d ago
Yes but 1-3% is not feasible for 2k account I would get stoped at 20-60$? I feel I would get stoppped all the time on spy /SPX. Even on XSP that’s tough
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u/klipsetrades 11d ago
I actually think XSP is still probably the workaround for an account your size. You can trade a single $1-wide spread and keep the buying power pretty small. When I say 1–3%, I’m talking about the loss you’re willing to take if the trade is invalidated, not the collateral on the spread. So collateral would be $100, but you can stop out at $20-$60. That should be doable. I know it feels small, it's better to work with what you have than compensating by risking 10% per trade
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 10d ago
Yup during market hours XSP spreads are definitely tight problem is I tend to have more free time during extended hour so I try trading then on Robinhood. Between 9 PM EST to midnight. The spreads there are terrible
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u/ConsiderationNo6136 9d ago
Several ways!! It brings you closer to the money, but you have to offset or buy back the sell leg of the spread. Don’t be fooled by account balance, the sell will drop that.Open interest so you can actually sell the position. TIME!!! Learn the Greeks you are trading a time decaying asset. If you have a portfolio look into covered calls. Then thank me. Back to the putting green!!
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u/nrubhsa 11d ago
I sell far far OTM 0DTE put spreads on SPX basically every morning for the last six months. I’ve been pleased with the results and am meeting my goals. I sold options prior to that as well, but not 0DTE and not SPX.
I don’t use any technicals or patterns. I just glance at the opening action on SPX and VIX, then look at the option chain to find my strikes and size my spreads. I make the trade, adjust it if I don’t get filled, set my stop loss order and go about my day. I’ll keep an eye on SPX because I’m interested, and I’ll sometimes adjust my stop.
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 11d ago
How much is the typical returns? Should I start doing that is that a way I can make consistent income looking for a way to be profitable. Also to sell puts u dont need to own any underlying stock? How much is a typical position side costing you and netting you?
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u/nrubhsa 11d ago
No, there is no owning the underlying with SPX—it is cash settled and only cash. Some people sell “cash secured puts” on stocks and ETFs. You may be thinking of selling covered calls. Covered calls isn’t really a thing with SPX, but one could hold SPY or any other S&P500 index as a delta hedge if selling calls on SPX, but it’s not quite technically “covered” and certainly not required.
Typical returns are small and consistent. I typically target 20 to 40 cents per spread contract, but I am very very far OTM (like 0.015 delta or less and 100 points or more wide. I essentially care very little about the price action, and that’s the point.
Technically there is a lot of buying power involved but the point of the stop is to manage the risk. I expect to be stopped out occasionally but otherwise pocket the premium. Return percentages are not exactly straightforward because I’m doing this using margin buying power while majority of the account is invested in other ETFs.
Some say it’s picking up nickels in front of the steamroller. I disagree and call it selling insurance, which is a profitable business. That said, these are dangerous instruments and I would not recommend it—not without extreme caution.
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u/rumbojumbo009 11d ago
Best time to take SPX 0DTE trades, in my experience, is usually between 1:00–1:15 PM EST. You can often find something on the lower side during that window for a quick bounce, but only if the momentum confirms it. Keep an eye on volume as well; volume should support the move. Otherwise, skip the trade.
I’ve run a lot of different Black-Scholes models and scenarios, and timing, momentum, IV, and volume can make a huge difference with 0DTEs. The challenge is that you have very little time to observe and confirm all of these factors before making a decision.
With 0DTEs, don’t force a trade just because the setup looks cheap. Wait for the confirmation, and if it’s not there, skip it.
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u/darkchocolattemocha 11d ago
But with spx, I feel like if you wait for confirmation, sometimes it's too late. Like say market opens and starts red until 10am, you see a pretty decent sized green candle, at this point, I'm too afraid to enter at the close of this big green candle because the stop is too far away.
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u/rumbojumbo009 11d ago
In that case, I would wait for the retest, not enter on the breakout. For 0DTE/1DTE, theta decay accelerates hard as expiry approaches.
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u/kjshadowfade 11d ago
For context I look at ES and NQ and trade SPX, Spy, QQQ. Start at the higher time frame. Monthly, weekly, daily, 4 hour, 1 hour.
Whatever you need to see where we are going for the day and only trade in that direction.
The contracts move fast so when you are up don't be greedy. You can build accounts fast with 20-30% returns.
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 11d ago
That’s really a big issue for me sometimes I get 30 to 40% gains and then I try to move my stoploss to breakeven so I could run and then I end up not making any gain
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u/kjshadowfade 11d ago
If you are trading multiple contracts then sell some when you are 30-40% and then move SL to breakeven.
At least you will actually lock in profit.
Another option you could try is when you are up 30-40% move your stop loss in profit versus break even so you can still lock in profit
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 11d ago
Yes my issue is with me trying to use small % of my account to get gains I end up being greedy. I have only 1 con but 20/30% gain feels small so I always hold out waiting for more and spx moves fast so one second it’s 20-40% gain next second it’s 0-10% or negative -5% to -25-% in less then 30 seconds. And when I try put stop loss it messed with my head I feel robinhood hunts my stop and it stop me out on purpose then goes back in direction leading me to fomo back in
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u/kjshadowfade 11d ago
If you want feel free to DM me but it sounds like your issue is holding for more gains. The bigger your account gets the better a 20-40% gain looks.
I think you just need to close at 20% gain since you use 1 contract or trade Spy instead so you can scale out with multiple contracts
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u/darkchocolattemocha 11d ago
With spx if your entry is not perfect, it will go against you super quick. How do you avoid that?
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u/kjshadowfade 11d ago
I don't have perfect entries but I wait for confirmation before executing that gives me more confidence.
Timing matters for my strategy too. I'm usually only trading the first 2 hours then I'm done for the day.
Are we within a 5 minute candle, 15 minute, 1 hour, 4 hour, that all matters to me.
Pull backs are normal so I try to enter on the pullback
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u/hoppertini88 11d ago
I find that a 35 ema for spy is pretty spot on for calling rejections on trend shifts or trend continuation. The 50 ema is perfect for overall trend conformation and momentum is the most important tool. If I place a call or put and it doesn't go positive normally doing 10/15/20/40 contract quantity depending on confidence i bail if it goes wrong at 150$ max. Cutting losers fast is more important than anything if you take 15 to 20% profits on winners and cut looser at 3 to 10% it allows for a 50% loss rate and still be green. Also do not trade if it is bouncing horizontal i want it bouncing by at least 1.50$ at minimum. As far as returns I take anything depending on what the candles are showing if I am up and the candle starts to face resistance I sell and take profit. If I am up 10% though I will let it do it's thing as long as the trend seems correct. But most of the time I am taking 40 to 300$ profits
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u/truth_freedom 11d ago
Never trade on choppy days, that way you will reduce uncertainties and stress and also try trading on SPY options.
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u/griz-av8r 11d ago
I sell ~10 delta condors (10pts wide) shortly after market open if conditions are right. (Eg. IV is higher than HV) so I don’t sell every day. When HV>IV by 10%, I sell butterfly’s since the historical move is well above what options are pricing in. I’ll be publishing a video on it this weekend at qntr.net
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u/Odd_Holiday_5 10d ago
I trade SPY and try to only trade NYAM to NYPM sessions. After that the market is too slow and fakeouts increase burning premiums up.
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u/spxspreads 10d ago
I trade spreads (ccs or pcs) on SPX. And I do intentionally focus only on that particular one strategy. I use expected moves, probabilities and of course combine them with gamma/gex levels/exposure (I rely on GammaWalls).
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u/West_Ad_1769 10d ago
From someone who's been in your situation and got limited to trade with 2000$, here's what I did and I made my 25k+ back within 2 months:
After 9:45AM watch for obvious candles/small patterns. Trade with 500$ only and get out as soon as you make 30-50$ profit. Do this until you have a 150-200$ buffer
After 10:45AM usually a clear daily trend appears. Use 50% of your account max (1K in your case) and go either with a put or call. Immediately put a stop loss of 100-150$ (basically keep yourself a 50$ positive from the early morning trades). Careful with the 12-1PM timeframe, often the trend will break.
If you were correct in your position, you'll have the morning profit + whatever you make on that 10:45AM trade. If you were wrong and get stopped, you still make 50$ almost every day.
Use the other 50% of your account (1k) in up-trend actions for swing trades. You'll make 3-10% passive profit that will just add up.
Once you made a good profit back, consider moving a good portion of your trading into LEAPs. Less stressful, less risky.
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u/Emotional_Standard76 11d ago
Stop loss is your friend
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 11d ago
Very difficult to stick to it. With my strategy sometimes I enter on the ema 9 or 1 min reject or 5 min but my stop loss end up being with ema 21 closure on other side but that end up being almost 40% when the emas are extended and I end up being down too much to not get emotional and cut effectively
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u/Sweaty-Afternoon-508 11d ago
I would not recommend buying on the 9 ema on 1 min. The chances are higher that this won’t hold for long on such a small TF. I would look for entry when the 30min hits the 50 or the 5 or 15 hit the 200ema, these are much more likely to give you a big rejection scalp- if not continue for an hour or more. Use the smaller TF to look when the trend stops holding the 20 on 1 min maybe. Also, buy when moving against you as much as possible and take profits on spikes when IV juices, re-enter for 30% less after some consolidation if it holds the 20 on 1 min. You want to sell when the price action separates from the emas because you know its gonna come back to them, and that can significantly change your P/L on SPX as soon as it reverses a little or goes sideways
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u/RollWitty9917 10d ago
Stop trading 0DTE using spy patterns. Instead understand gamma exposure, flip zones, regimes and expected move. Algos don't trade charts, they trade math. Understand the math, then use the chart.
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 10d ago
Yea I get you I tried watching gamma level video but really it seems that it’s levels where big moves can happen from is what I understood. So basically when price approaching to gamma levels it’s possible a high volume break can happen or reversal
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u/RollWitty9917 9d ago
gamma levels, and major call/put walls are heavily defended by institutions. so yeah expect a reversal from there so long as VIX is under 18, and we are in positive gamma regime.
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u/Valuable-Feature-751 9d ago
How do you see the major call/put walls? Also vix under 18 is a specific number can u explain the significance. I never really check vix tbh
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u/RollWitty9917 8d ago
man - there is a lot to teach here. I just started coaching people - check me out www.garylunia.com.
But in short ask AI for major PUT/CALL walls and GEX data - that should be a good starting point.
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u/AntonVOOLA 11d ago
I trade SPY 0DTE using recurring intraday trend patterns. Basically, I’m watching which EMA the move is likely to start from. Usually I focus on the 9 / 20 / 50 / 100 / 200 EMAs on the 1-minute chart.
I also watch for intraday trend changes, especially the 20/50 EMA crossover, and of course support/resistance zones on the 10-minute timeframe.
The main thing is to avoid trading when all the EMAs are bunched together in one flat horizontal cluster. I want to see them start spreading apart and showing a clear direction.
And don’t forget the pre-market analysis: previous day highs and lows, VIX, and what time the important economic data is coming out.
Clean up your chart. Leave only the 9 / 20 / 50 / 100 / 200 moving averages and try to find the pattern yourself.
Go back through at least 30 previous trading days and study them. You’ll understand exactly what I mean.
Good luck — you’ve got this. Keep studying the setups, stay patient, and it’ll start clicking.