0DTE iron butterfly with small target and noon exit
Open a 0DTE iron butterfly mid-morning, take +15%, cut at −25%, and close by noon.
What they did
Option Alpha analyzed about 230,000 0DTE trades placed by its users. It reported which setups the profitable traders used, including iron butterflies opened at 10:15 AM ET on Mondays and Wednesdays, closed at +15% profit, −25% loss, or 12:00 PM ET.
How it went
Option Alpha's claims: iron butterflies and iron condors made up 78% of 0DTE positions, with win rates of 66.76% and 70.19% respectively. The 10:15 AM / +15% / −25% / noon pattern describes what profitable traders did; it was not tested as a standalone strategy.
Sources:
Worth knowing
- This comes from looking at winners after the fact (survivorship bias). It's a starting hypothesis, not a proven rule.
- Vendor research, and Option Alpha sells 0DTE automation.
- Paper-trade at least [2–3] months of Mondays and Wednesdays before judging it.
- On Robinhood agent accounts, multi-leg spreads (1–4 legs, same underlying) need a Level 3 margin account (not cash or retirement) and use limit orders only. New same-day positions must be opened by about 3:30 PM ET for stock/ETF options (Confirmed via Robinhood's official MCP connector, Oct 17 2026; cutoff per Robinhood's options-hours help page).
The prompt
On [Mondays and Wednesdays] at [10:15 AM ET], if no position is open:
Open a same-day-expiry iron butterfly on [SPX / XSP / SPY]:
- Sell the at-the-money call and put; buy wings [$X] away on each side
- Quantity [1], multi-leg limit order at mid (worst acceptable: [mid − $0.05])
Exits (whichever comes first):
- Profit target: +[15]% of the credit received
- Stop: −[25]% of the credit received
- Time stop: close at [12:00 PM ET]
Report the credit, exit reason, and P&L.
SAFETY DEFAULTS (keep unless you deliberately change them):
- Use the PAPER trading account only. Never touch a live account.
- Before every order, show me: symbol, side, size, order type, limit price, stop, and the rule that triggered it. Then WAIT for my "approve".
- Hard limits: max [$500] per trade, max [3] open positions, stop all trading for the day after a loss of [$300].
- Log every signal, decision and fill to [a running log / spreadsheet] with timestamps.To go fully autonomous: (1) run on paper for at least [4–8 weeks] or [30+ trades]; (2) delete the 'WAIT for my approve' line and keep the hard limits; (3) switch to live keys or account. On Robinhood, turn off trade approvals in your agent settings, but note that some orders can still require in-app approval or acknowledging a pre-trade alert, so unattended execution isn't guaranteed for every order. IBKR's AI connector always asks for approval; use its regular API for unattended trading. Never remove the daily loss limit.