Hey traders!
I’m sure you know how much I love using butterflies to trade. Historically, I’ve used this strategy for swing trading equities, especially on high-volume tickers with liquid options markets. That includes tickers like Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL), and more.
SPX 0 DTE
But I’ve continued to hear from my colleagues how useful trading the SPX is, especially on a 0 days ’till expiration (0 DTE) basis. Because the SPX has a series in which the options expire daily, options traders can take advantage of quick theta decay, especially if they know how to use options strategies like butterflies, credit spreads, and iron condors.
Combined with expert reading of price action, these strategies can equal some great opportunities at the end of the day. As someone who’s always loved trading the last hour before the market closes, applying my options strategies to this ticker is something I have come to enjoy.
Your Requests
A few weeks ago I sent out a request via this newsletter, asking traders what they’d most like to see me make videos about. Overwhelmingly, the response was that traders wanted to see me make more videos about how I trade butterflies, and specifically about how I manage real trades. As such, I started a series on my Youtube channel called Trade Review. Now, I normally don’t like ‘bragging’ about trades because I think it gives me bad luck, but I started this series because it was specifically requested and I think it does provide real insight into how and why I enter trades, and how they play out.
Here is a video I made on Tuesday about my end of day SPX butterfly. This is a trade I did live in the Simpler Trading Simpler Central trading room. So, if you want to see the full version and you’re a member, check out the recording of my trading room session at the close.
Conclusion
Now, the funniest part about this is that I have never really been a day trader, and I specifically ignored everyone doing these 0 DTE trades for quite some time. But, the one time frame I have always liked to day trade is at the close, and it just turns out the strategies that I have used for so long apply well in the SPX. So, this is a new evolution and journey for me, and I don’t proclaim to be any kind of SPX expert. These 0 DTE options are relatively new, but my butterfly strategies are not. What’s not new is my enjoyment in taking all of you along the ride with my trading journey, for better or for worse!
So, if you’re as annoyed as I was about so many talking about day trades when you’re not a day trader (I have never been a day trader), I get it. But, hear me out…if you can come in and make some trades right at the end of the day, without sitting there and day trading all day long, this is what is enticing to me and why I finally came over to the dark side.
At the end of the day, traders just need to continually evolve and find what is working for them. This is something that I will definitely be focusing on a lot more, so expect to hear from me as my style continually evolves.
