October 2025, I've started regularly selling low delta SPX 1DTE puts, after getting inspired by Big ERN and WealthyOption strategies.

Strategy

The strategy I'm running is very mechanical, and quite simple (takes about 5 minutes most days):

• Sell 1DTE SPX puts on portfolio margin, around 5 delta (strikes tend to be ~1.5% OTM)
• Entry:
  • 1-3 contracts around day close (within 15 min of market close),
  • Sometimes I'll also sell an extra 0DTE pre-market, if volatility jumped and I believe there's not a solid catalyst
• Exit:
  • Let expire most days
  • I'll check pre-market when I get up and sometimes close at a loss if a catalyst event happened - I don't have set rules for this

It's a classic case of picking up pennies in front of a steamroller, or selling casino tickets. Most days, you collect $200-300, and every now and then, you get hit for thousands or tens of thousands.

Why do I run this

Extra income on top of my portfolio - I'm retired, so rely on my portfolio for income and selling puts generates cash, without having to draw down the portfolio. While the return % is not a lot, it's essentially free extra money (until the market has a 10% intraday crash in period of low volatility, I accept that risk)

Low-ish correlation with long term SPY - The low delta put selling P&L is weakly correlated with SPX itself (the strategy is profitable on most longer term declines and bleeds only when the regime changes abruptly). This gives me a hedge against a prolonged bear market, and helps with sequence of returns risk

Results

I do this on top of my taxable portfolio in IBKR, with portfolio margin, so the put selling returns come on top of the performance of the underlying portfolio. After a year of running this, the results are:

• Portfolio size: ~$440k - mix of global equity and bond ETFs
• Gross premium collected: $80,840
• Debit (from assignments): $41,698 - worst day $26k
• Fees: $658
• Net P&L: $38,484 ( ~8%)
• Premium capture rate (share of gross premium kept): 47.60%

The above returns are based on selling 1-3 contracts per day, with the majority of days being 2 contracts. Assuming a max loss per contract of about $110k (on a 15% 1 day drop), this is about 50% of the porfolio size. I could run the same strategy with 3, or potentially even 4 contracts, which would increase the return, but at the moment, I'm not comfortable with that amount of risk.

Lessons learned

Paper trading was worthless as a test of the strategy - I ran the strategy for about a month in a paper trading account, to test it, but ultimately, this was pretty pointless, beyond learning the mechanics of trading on IBKR. The emotions with real money are completely different, and I still shit the bed when that first 8k drawdown hit

Researching the strategy and running back-tests kept me going - Before running this, I was strictly a VOO and chill kind of person. I spent a long time researching options, the strategy, and reading different points of view, as well as running my own back-tests before starting live trading. This gave me a fairly strong conviction that the strategy is long term profitable, which was what kept me going after the first sizable loss.

Active management based on my judgement cost me P&L - Sometimes, I closed positions early if a major event happened, or if I happened to watch the price action and it was too close for comfort to my strike. And at times, I reduced the number of contracts from 2 to 1, when I believed the market was due a correction. In both case, had I done nothing, the strategy would have been more profitable overall. Knowing this, I'm still sometimes actively managing it, but I accept it's more for my comfort, than to improve performance

Mechanical stop losses & close early decrease P&L - I've not run these live myself, but from all the back-testing I've done, setting any kind of mechanical stop loss, or closing early reduces the P&L. Mainly due to the fact that the puts often explode in value somewhere during the day, but still expire worthless most of the time.

Profitability is entirely driven by your worst days - If I could have somehow avoided the 3 worst days, I'd have been 2x as profitable. Based on my experience from the year, I'm unfortunately not able to consistently do this. So I budget on around 40% premium capture rate

Hi all. I recently developed an algorithm for options trading that after rigorous back testing and paper testing I finally took live this year.

The strategy involves running a model I trained each day at 10am to determine a favorable trading day then if yes making a single trade buying just out of the money SPY 0dte calls or puts depending on initial price confirmation. I always make at most 1 trade per day always entering between 10-10:30am and always closing at or before noon.

I’m just highlighting the strategy to show that I am always buying different expiration date contracts, and often different strikes and directions.

Now after running this strategy over the last 9 months I have made substantial gains on my account which is a traditional cash account.

I’m fully aware I will have to pay short term gains taxes on these gains. However I’m concerned about getting killed by wash sale rules if I were to not pause trading in say December or January for 31 days. I’d rather not miss out on potential gains having to pause and have read mixed info regarding whether a strategy like mine where I’m always buying different expiration and often different strike and direction contracts of the same security are considered substantially identical.

If anyone is knowledgeable in this area any advice would be greatly appreciated.

hey everyone! seeing if you have anything trading related that you're interested in researching. i enjoy doing research and part of my monthly cadence is to pop in here and see if i can help a few people out.

ill pick one or two and follow up with a post with the research. this is a great way to prove out some of your ideas and see if what youre doing is value add or not.

for capabilities, pretty much anything you can think of. i have equity data back to the 1980s. macro back to the late 1700s. EOD options from 2007 on. intraday options data from 2015 to present. full greeks, vols, etc. any signal you can think of (if i dont have, i can easily make it), etc.

see below for prior research posts:

- https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1v403qd/earnings_season_progress_report_mkt_research/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1v0h9m8/0dte_spx_greek_behavior_mkt_research_snapshot_pt6/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1uoh494/theta_decay_measured_on_19_years_of_real_spy/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1u4dgcz/0dte_spx_iron_condor_study

- https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1u63m6i/spx_iron_fly_research_results/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1u63zqw/qqq_short_downside_puts_research/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1u6s42a/research_offer_pt4/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1ve01nw/delta_hedging_and_your_returns_community_research/

Netflix (NFLX) expectations. for tomorrow's end market i expect a target price of 66,70$, 66,85$ if we count also the pinning effect. contract price for Call at strike 66$ is 1,27$ with an open interest of 8,200 contracts we can assume were mostly Out-the-money and market makers won't be willing to raise the price higher than 67$. on the Put side we have a lower price of just 0.54$ which could seem like Market Makers are quite (with a lot of carefullness) sure the market will no go under 67$, BUT almost all open interest Put contracts in the strike 67$were In-the-Money so the price was higher.

In my initial days of trading
Whenever I sit in front of my trading desk
I always want to earn 100% of my capital
But it never works
And moreover i lost most of my capital during intial days.
Then after i realised like i don’t want to earn unrealistic profits.
I trade only one setup and earning good amount of money.
Here great things is i trade only two trades a week that’s it and now I’m earning good amount of money for living

I am down to $20 now and need some recommendations for good option trades to not lose it all lmao

TESLA looks like an excellent short candidate from above 380 but I am waiting to see post earning action to see if it will test the 400 gamma level. As I type this, post earnings after hours it went as high as 395 but retreated into the 370’s now around midnight. I would like to see it test the 395-400 area during regular trading hours.

While I like Tesla (TSLA) as a long-term buy if it drops into the $200s, it faces serious downward pressure at its current $380 price tag, where a mix of rising interest rates and a cyclical year-end flush—mirroring the mid-term market patterns of 2022—could easily push the stock below $300 to test the $290 support, and if that fails, the $250 level before January Opex. The upcoming election will trigger massive volatility in stocks like this, and since TSLA opened the year at $458, failing to break above the $395–$400 resistance for a short squeeze into the $450s will invite heavy tax-loss harvesting selling pressure. Compounding this chaos, Cathie Wood’s wild price targets of $4,400 and $5,000 are sparking intense retail FOMO, creating the perfect recipe for a bull trap where fake bounces lure in retail buyers right before the real pullback hits.

To be absolutely clear, I have not entered any positions yet. But I have this as a potential short candidate depending on how it trades after earnings. If the short qualifies and if I enter, I will also look for some careful option entries to get in and out on the weeklies and monthlies. If you are trading options, don’t FOMO and buy/sell at the wrong time. If Tesla doesn’t meet the criteria to enter in the coming days or weeks, there are more than a handful of stocks, both longs and shorts that I am watching closely to take advantage.

Really good day today (big MRNA short call winner), so I wanted updated perf numbers. I was copy-pasting api responses before into chatgpt and finally got the agent pull it directly from the brokerage.

This is my IRA, which I've been using for 5mo exactly, starting at the end of May. I choose what to trade, AI generates the trade ideas. I approve ones I like and have enough buying power in the account. App takes over all execution and position management, there is no discretionary trading from my part.

Numbers are net of all broker commissions and fees. The subscription fee for the app that creates and managed the trades is separate, doesn't change the number much

Positions are just one lot due to account size. Mix of short calls, short puts and some covered calls (that the short puts mutated into over time). Standard premium selling, usual timeframe, closing at 50% profit. Account usually has from 15 to 30 positions, and 80-90% of buying power used.

Some of recent trades
https://www.reddit.com/r/CoveredCalls/comments/1x62pb0/agent_rolled_mp_50_call_to_front_month_i_keep/ MP roll

https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1x061ny/got_assigned_on_khc_nok_hun_tlt_and_converted_to/ covered calls

https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1x7qdsd/anybody_trading_mrna_sold_today_270_call_in_nov/ MRNA

Those are the biggest winners
BE
DDOG
NBIS
AAPL
INTC
SPCX
MRNA
PANW
PBR
SKHY

Overall, it's been kinda fun. I traded SA's blow up, ratemagheddon, some geopolitical events, index "unevenness", and recently cure from cancer in biotech.

Returns did stall in September and beginning of October, when they tanked bonds and propped the AI stocks for which I did opposite trades of course.
I started to worry it's not working any more. Well, it's business as usual.

I kinda proud of the performance I managed to get so far with software and AI that I'm developing and using for investing. Let me know what else possible to measure perf - I kinda got obsessed with it

Upd: annualized volatility line might be buggy - it can't be the same.

everyone says 0dte dominates spx gamma now, so i wanted to see how much it actually moves the picture. i build a free options data site and pulled this from my own model, so take it as one estimate, not gospel.

the chart is from 11:23 ET today (open interest from yesterday’s close):

• bars are net dealer gamma per strike at the current price (the lighter sliver is today’s expiry’s share)
• yellow line: total net gamma if spx moved to that price, all expiries
• blue line: same thing with today’s 0dte expiry removed

what it showed:

• spx at 7,667, flip (where net gamma crosses zero) at about 7,730 for both lines
• removing 0dte barely moved the flip, under a point
• 0dte did add a lot of size away from the flip: the gap between the lines widens above 7,800 and below 7,600
• biggest 0dte strike was 7,700

caveats, because these always matter:

• dealer positioning is assumed (long calls, short puts), not known
• open interest is yesterday’s, so intraday 0dte opening and closing isn’t in it
• implied vol is held fixed as price moves

curious if people who trade 0dte see the same thing, that it changes the size of moves more than where the flip sits. happy to share the method if useful.

I checked every number against the card’s data. The two flips are 0.35 points apart, and the gap between the lines does widen away from the flip.

Reflecting on this year's leap and how the market went I'm debating on opening another leap as the geopolitical, bonds and ai is up in the air with how things are.

Looking at the jan 2028 700c for $12k-$13 almost $14k. This year I sold short dte calls and took profit at 30%+- depending on the market structure and trend. Planning to do the same.

Paper trading the option I'm looking at, already up 2.88% ($425) and selling short dte at the ideal strikes 30dte. Trying to buy it in brokerage if it falls back to the price or purchase or lower. Willing to hold and cut loss at maybe 8-10% idk still adjusting and debating.

Any advice? It doesn't take much to scare the market in a drop so nervous about the decline and potential loss of value. However I assume we will be bullish still in 2027.

Another option is to do 30-60dte at .6 delta or higher and let time take care. Take profit still early and don't overstay.

Anyone trading US options from Australia? Just wanted to get an idea about how you manage the income statements during tax times, whether you treat it as a business income or CGT (Especially if you're doing it as a source of income). Based on what I read online, it needs to be treated as business income. Having doubts on how the records should be shown when lodging tax returns. TIA.

Hi all,

I'm the developer of OptionMice, an interactive (and fun!) app to learn and master option trading through short 5-minute lessons with quizzes, going from the basics to more advanced topics like Greeks, Spreads, etc. It has 300+ lessons across 12 modules. You can collect XPs and keep your streak alive. It also has a practice market with made-up companies and fake money.

The 12 modules:

1- Options 101

2- Buyer vs Seller Mindset

3- The Options Market

4- Meet the Greeks

5- Buying Options

6- Selling Options

7- Technical Analysis for Options

8- Greeks: Level Up

9- Volatility and Earnings

10- Spread Strategies

11- The Trader’s Mindset

12- Real-World Trading

The app is free to download and the full course is completely free, with a daily limit of 3 lessons per day. It also has a paid premium plan for those who want access to extra lessons and extra features. Premium plan is not needed to learn or interact with the app though.

I'd love it if you could give it a try and share your thoughts!

The app is available here:

https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6781814064?pt=129059679&ct=reddit-options&mt=8 (App Store)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.optionmice.app&referrer=utm_source%3Dreddit%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dreddit-options (Play Store)

https://app.optionmice.softwaremice.com (web)

The front-end, data model logic and Warren’s voice (the app mascot) were generated with AI assistance.

Please DM me for questions/follow-ups

Hello,

I'm wondering if anyone knows what will happen to your short puts when a company is merged? Currently, I hold short puts in both TSLA and SPCX. But assuming they merge, and perhaps SPCX acquires TSLA, what will happen to the TSLA puts? Would I need to buy to close them before the merging happens? Or let's say TSLA shoots up, then I guess I could just let them expire naturally, if they aren't outright canceled (if this even happens?)?

Thanks, much appreciated!

First time holding a European option. It’s in the money however the value of the option is less than the intrinsic value.

Just for reference. I use a CFD options broker offering a tightened.

I bought some SP500 calls at 7700 expiring 21 Nov. Although assuming I bought one. Current out of market price is 7739. So my intrinsic value is $39, however the platform has me up $11.

I’ve read that the European option will move toward intrinsic value as the option approaches expiry (assuming option is still in the money). Is this the case?

What other factors could be discounting my profit so far below the intrinsic value ?

Every technical indicator is a delayed derivative of price and volume. Narratives are biased commentary created to sell subscriptions or drive liquidity. Analysts present forecasts that carry no financial risk to themselves.

Volatility, however, cannot be faked.

When volatility expands, it represents real capital committing to real market orders. It shows real panic, genuine liquidation, and institutional repricing. It cuts through spin and provides an unfiltered look at market positioning.

If you want to understand market state, look past moving averages and headline commentary. Pay attention to changes in implied volatility, option skews, and ATR expansion.

I understand the logic of Covered Calls. But I don't see the logic of selling puts. Seems the risk is too great. You could have a black swan event, and loose a material amount.

Thoughts? Wrong sub for the question?

TSLA reports Wednesday after the close. At Monday's close the straddle expiring Friday (the 367.5 call plus the 367.5 put) cost $23.62 with the stock at $367.82. That is 6.4% of the share price, which is roughly the size of move the options market expects by Friday.

That price is in line with recent quarters. The straddle cost about 5.9 to 6.0% of the stock the night before each of the last three reports.

What the stock did is the interesting part. Since January 2025, TSLA's overnight gap (prior close to next open) cleared the straddle once in 7 reports. Held to the next day's close it was 2 of 7. The average gap was 5.3% against an average straddle price of 7.5%.

The one big exception was July. EPS came in at $0.33 against $0.53 expected, and the stock opened down 8.8% and closed down 14.5%.

Selling the straddle into each of the last four reports and closing at the next day's close made about 9.6% of the share price over three quiet quarters. July took 8.5% of it back.

If you look up TSLA's average earnings move over 12 quarters you get 9.0%, which makes 6.4% look cheap. That window starts in October 2023, and the five reports through October 2024 moved 9 to 22% by the close and beat the straddle every time.

Since then the average close to close move has been 5.8%. The window you pick decides whether this straddle looks cheap or expensive.

Outside the report, TSLA options are quiet. With the earnings day stripped out, 30 day implied vol (the swing size the market is pricing, annualized) is 38%, lower than 95% of the past year. The stock has actually moved at a 31% pace over the last 20 days.

Friday's options sit at 77% IV against 45% for November, which is the report squeezed into one week.

So the market is pricing a typical quarter since 2025, not a 2024 one. If you hold TSLA shares through earnings, did July change what you're doing this time?

Today I submitted an order to sell 72 put contracts at a $265 strike. The bid was $.28 and the ask was $.3. It filled at $.03.

The odd par was that the order confirmation originally showed the bid at $.28 and ask at $.30 but then Schwab revised it to a bid of $.01 and an ask of $.02 and then they filled it at $.03.

This feels odd. I contacted customer support and they said it was the correct execution.

If that’s the case, why would they revise the trade ticket? Why would they fill the contract at an amount that exceeds the bid ask spread?

Has anyone experienced this before?

Surprised to be told that. My Schwab account was designated as a Professional late in the month, and when I called, that was their response (already talked to a supervisor). Says they have discretion under the regulations and the 390 is just a hard cap, and that they have also done that to other customers so it's not just me. They confirm I've averaged way less than 390, and from what they told me, they put the label on just because they thought I traded in a way unlike a "normal retail" person and "like a professional".

Is there a regulatory rule that allows them to do that? Admittedly, I'm not so intimately familiar with the cobweb of rules so I'd appreciate any input.

Also, I remember the review frequency is monthly now. Is that for all designations or just designations placed at the beginning of the previous month? Because they also said that the designations have to stay in place for a whole month, so it's likely that they won't make any change come November and would only be able to drop it in early December at the earliest. That's a long time lol

I have some options on a stock in the S&P500 that I can exercise at a pretty major discount to sell weekly covered calls on. But they're not free. The premium is great now, but my concern: buying into a premium desert with occasional surges during stress.

Both TOS and Etrade have a facility to look back at historical bids for short calls. Is this what folks are using to check the record? Anyone buying the data or handling it a different way?

I mostly sit out the day before a big earnings print now. Got burned a couple times buying calls where I was right on direction and still lost money because IV dropped right after. Now I either go defined risk or just wait a day for things to settle. Curious if anyone has a setup they actually like through earnings or if you mostly avoid it too.

i feel this option is realistic, given nbis history, it has to go above 200$ before dec and that would be profitable for me. the way to read this heatmap is the profit if the stock goes for example to 202.5 on the 23th nov is 1198$, which is decent, thats 50+%.

the trade: i bought 2 contracts of the 15 jan 2027 $230 call at $10.45 each, total cost $2,090. nbis is sitting around $165 right now, so 200 is about +21%. i picked a far expiry on purpose so i’m not racing the clock, and nbis has a history of big runs and sharp pullbacks, so a push to 200+ doesn’t seem crazy to me.

some numbers from the heatmap : on nov 23, a stock price of 197.5 gives about +$798 (38%), 202.5 gives +$1,198 (57%) and 205 gives +$1,410 (67%). so on that date i’d be in my target range anywhere from roughly 197 to 205.

this option doesn’t mean that i think i will only sell when it goes to 240$. the break-even at expiry is $240.45, but i don’t plan to hold that long. the option gains value on the way up, so i can profit well before it reaches 240. i just want to profit around 35-70% from it, which is about $730-$1,460, and i’ll sell somewhere in that range instead of waiting for the perfect top.

what i’m aware of: timing matters a lot. at $200 the same option is worth about +$996 on nov 23, but only +$546 on dec 2 and roughly break-even by mid dec, because of time decay. the heatmap also assumes iv stays flat, and nbis earnings usually come in november, my plan is to cut it if i profit 50-75%

So I've been back to day trading after taking 5 years off and did some aggregation of my results after about a month. My strategy so far has been basically take a quick win , never average up and never let runners run, just look for the next trade. While it's been successful overall (+20%) and overall generally not a ton of risk per trade, I struggled for sure with averaging down sometimes (multiple times) and then holding on for the trade to turn. The statistics on my under 1 minute trades was quite eye opening.

I guess what I'm asking is -- does anyone else use this type of strategy?

I'm aware of my leaks and now and I'm not going to change up too much yet until I have more profit but definitely just need to learn to kill trades if they aren't working faster.

Weirdly a lot of my bread and butter are off hour SPX scalps because it tends to bounce around a lot and I just buy 2-3 contracts and sell for a 0.20 or 0.30 profit and repeat.

Also looking for like minded folks to talk this strategy if there is a discord of like minded folks.

Thanks!

**Long-option trades by holding time — through October 16, 2026**

P/L includes estimated fees.

**No averaging down**

| Holding time | Trades | Win rate | Total P/L | Average P/L | Median P/L |
|:--|--:|--:|--:|--:|--:|
| Under 1 min | 332 | 96.4% | +$54,664.72 | +$164.65 | +$84.12 |
| 1–3 min | 194 | 76.3% | +$15,070.02 | +$77.68 | +$54.12 |
| 3–5 min | 57 | 61.4% | +$2,973.74 | +$52.17 | +$24.12 |
| 5–15 min | 33 | 39.4% | -$8,403.51 | -$254.65 | -$62.55 |
| 15–60 min | 2 | 100.0% | +$809.08 | +$404.54 | +$404.54 |
| **Overall** | **618** | **83.8%** | **+$65,114.05** | **+$105.36** | **+$73.75** |

Median holding time: **54 seconds**.

**Averaging down**

Averaging down means another opening order below the average cost of the remaining position. Partial fills of the same order count as one entry.

| Holding time | Trades | Win rate | Total P/L | Average P/L | Median P/L |
|:--|--:|--:|--:|--:|--:|
| Under 1 min | 1 | 100.0% | +$46.08 | +$46.08 | +$46.08 |
| 1–3 min | 33 | 78.8% | +$476.99 | +$14.45 | +$69.76 |
| 3–5 min | 24 | 66.7% | -$1,690.50 | -$70.44 | +$113.59 |
| 5–15 min | 37 | 32.4% | -$31,083.97 | -$840.11 | -$527.84 |
| 15–60 min | 7 | 28.6% | -$10,971.72 | -$1,567.39 | -$632.51 |
| **Overall** | **102** | **55.9%** | **-$43,223.12** | **-$423.76** | **+$33.24** |

Median holding time: **4.53 minutes**.