This strategy reads how the market traded in the last half hour before the 09:30 ET open. On the days that set up, it takes the other side of the premarket's late move with a 0DTE option, and it's out by lunchtime. Most days don't set up.
Done for today: closed at the stop, -$730.
4 trades so far. 2 made money and the record is +$1,920. That's far too few to judge.
Running P&L, one dot per trade (green won, red lost). Paper trades filled at the real ask, sold at the real bid.
Before the 09:30 open, SPY trades in a thin early market. This strategy looks at how SPY behaved in the half hour before the bell, and only trades on mornings where the premarket was undecided.
If it stays on one side the whole time, the premarket has a clear direction, and those mornings are skipped. If it's been on both sides, the premarket is undecided, and only those mornings go forward. Most days aren't undecided.
The trade is an at-the-money same-day SPX option, bought at the real asking price just after the open. Quotes that are obviously broken in the first seconds are ignored, and if a clean price isn't available within a few minutes of the open, the day is skipped rather than entered late.
Why the exact numbers aren't here. I've described what each step does and why, but I've deliberately left out the settings that make it a complete system: the thresholds, distances, sizes, targets and timings. This page is a record of my own paper testing, not a set of rules for anyone to follow, and nothing on it is advice to trade. If you trade anything based on what you read here, the decisions and the results are entirely your own.
Since 12 Oct 2026 there have been 11 sessions. It traded on 4 of them. On 7 the premarket didn't set up. Most of the work is deciding not to trade.
won lost no setup
Everything here is one contract. The most a single trade can lose is what was paid for it, which so far has been at most $1,840. A typical trade was open for about 58 minutes.
| Date | Option | Bought | Sold | Result | Ended at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Oct | 7650 put | $18.00 09:31 | $10.70 09:53 | -$730 | stop |
| 19 Oct | 7700 put | $15.10 09:31 | $8.90 10:15 | -$620 | stop |
| 16 Oct | 7755 put | $13.90 09:31 | $28.20 11:06 | +$1,430 | target |
| 15 Oct | 7685 call | $18.40 09:31 | $36.80 10:43 | +$1,840 | target |
| Total | 4 trades | +$1,920 |
Times are New York time. One contract per trade, no commissions.
If it's below zero after 20 trades, or no better than the random-side version by then, it goes to the graveyard with the others.
An option that expires the same day it is traded. It is cheap and moves fast, and it can lose all of its value within hours.
US stocks and ETFs like SPY trade before the official 09:30 open, from early morning. Volume is thin, but the way prices drift into the open can say something about the first hours of the day.
No. It is a record of my own paper testing, published as it happens. I don't sell signals, and nothing here is a recommendation to trade.
They are paper trades on real quotes: bought at a real ask or my limit, sold at the real bid, one contract each, without commissions. Real fills could be worse.
Paper trades, filled at real market bid/ask quotes, one contract each, no commissions. The trade table is rebuilt every night; the Today box updates live. This site records my own testing and trading. It isn't financial advice. 0DTE options can go to zero within minutes.