While I’m on the path to cracking the 0 DTE strategy, I’m still at the beginning of my journey — and learning with each trade.
When I first started with the Dorian Trader in late January, the money from the 0 DTE Neutral-Trade (versus directional) strategy seemed easy. But, in February 2025 and now in March, with President Trump’s on-again-off-again tariff stances, trading the 0 DTE is all but easy.
On 2/24/25, the SPX played out like this:
On February 25, 20205, I made the following post on in the 0 DTE Day Trading channel of the Dorian Trader Discord Server:
I need some feedback on the this 0 DTE trade that I executed yesterday. I really didn’t like this experience. It just feels wrong to me…. On 2/24/25, here is what I did. Note the playing of the call side…. with multiple roll aways, roll ups…. I am thinking this is just not the way to do things. It takes so much work and I don’t find any reference to doing this kind of thing in either the 0 DTE or 7 DTE course. Unfortunately, I have done this type of trading for my last 3 0 DTEs and a few 7 DTEs since 2/21 (the last 3 crazy market days). I think I just executed panic adjustments as this is what it feels like. **Please, please comment on this! I want to be successful! Has anyone else done something like this, expending a lot of energy for really, really hard money with small gains or larger losses?
The actual trades in thinkorswim:
For those familiar with the approach, you can see that, on this day, I really didn’t follow the Dorian Trader strategy at all. The pattern of rolling away, rolling up, rolling away, and then rolling up only the call side is something I just made up as I went along. I did not stick with the Dorian Trader approach encouraged by Dr. Meadows and O’Brian Woods for the 0 DTE.
In addition, because I didn’t follow the Dorian Trader strategy, I felt panicky about potential unrealized losses and trying to fix them immediately. I had no anchor (like the Dorian Trader approach) to cling to in order to detach my emotions and follow proven steps.
Now, fast forwarding to March 6, 25. Here is how the day looked:
My corresponding post in the 0 DTE Day Trading channel included:
I tried to follow the IC SPX methodology as close as possible today and was really challenged with adjustments. I used up to 5 contracts when it was all over. I started out with 2 contracts for a call spread credit at 8:37. I then added the put side to complete the IC at 9:22. But then the market really tanked and I had to roll away the PUT side as the delta hit .31. Then, I rolled up the call side and added 1 contract in order to pay for the PUT roll away.
I then balanced the IC buy adding one contract to the PUT side. Then the market went back up and was challenging the CALL side, so I rolled up the PUT side and added one contract in the process. I then added 1 contract to the CALL side to balance the IC. Now I have 4 contracts on each side. I then added 1 contract to the IC. Now I have 5 contracts for the IC. I then exited the IC making $454 net (including fees and commissions). I was consistently monitoring the deltas on both shorts and stuck with moving the side that breached the .31 delta. I think the patience that I used to not do anything until entering the red zone helped on my success today. I also think I may reduce my spreads next time to minimize my risk some more. As far as targets go, I was initially looking for my 50% profit at $100, but then as things got hard and getting eventually to 5 contracts, I was shooting for $500 profit which I felt justified for all the work that I did….
My trades are as follows:
Contrast this day with the trades from February 24, 2025. On March 6, 2025, I did my best with following the Dorian Trader strategy for the 0 DTE. I started with a call spread in order to take advantage of the downward pressure I expected, but then turned it into an iron condor as the market started to reverse course to the upside.
Although it was still stressful, I felt anchored in the Dorian Trader 0 DTE strategy, made balanced roll aways (based on the tested side showing a >= .31 delta for the call side, <= -.31 for the put side) and roll ups, added contracts along the way so as to expedite my staying in the trade for a lesser amount of time, all while resetting my 100% target to $500 from the initial $200.
While both of these days were volatile days that required multiple adjustments, the latter day had good guard rails in place and showed improvement in my cracking the 0 DTE strategy. These volatile days have surely expedited my learning of how to adjust the trade.
– Dan Wellisch – Dorian Trader Trading Club Member + Guest Blogger
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