0DTE
Definition · Level 1 · Options basics
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“Zero days to expiration”: options on their final trading day — little time value left, and near the money gamma and time decay are at their most extreme, so prices react violently to every tick.
Example
Buying an SPX call at 11 am on its expiry day is a zero-day trade.
Where Tradecraft teaches it
Level 1 · Options basics, in the lesson “Expiration cycles & expiration day”: Monthlies, weeklies, 0DTE, LEAPS — and what happens on the last day.
Related terms
- ExpirationThe date the contract ceases to exist; any unused right disappears, and on that day only intrinsic value is left.
- Last trading dayFinal session in which an expiring contract can be bought or sold: for stock options the expiration day itself (usually a Friday, to the 4:00 pm ET…
- LEAPSLong-term Equity AnticiPation Securities: listed options expiring more than a year out (up to about three years, usually in January), often used as…
- MonthliesStandard option expirations on the third Friday of each month (the Thursday before if that Friday is an exchange holiday).
- Pin riskA writer’s uncertainty when the stock closes at or very near a short strike on expiration: you won’t know until after the close, often the next…
- WeeklysShort-dated options expiring in the weeks between standard monthly dates, most often on Fridays; as of 2025, SPX, SPY and QQQ listed an expiry every…