I Was There When Zero DTE Was Born

I need to tell you a story that most people have never heard.

Back in 2003, I was 24 years old, running a PowerPoint presentation in front of the Chicago Board Options Exchange board. My boss Tom Sosnoff was pitching something called "weekly options."

Except he kept calling them "quickies."

Even back then, most people missed the point. They heard "quickies" and thought it was about speed. But Tom wasn't selling speed. He was selling mathematical edge wrapped in a faster package.

That presentation was the birth of what you now know as zero DTE. And I was literally running the slide deck.

So when I tell you most people are doing it wrong... I'm not guessing.

Here's the math everyone misses

Let me show you exactly what I mean.

Today, the QQQ was sitting at exactly one standard deviation move to the downside. Expected move for the day: $4. The market had already moved down $4.

Statistically, we're at the edge. To move another $4 down would put us at two standard deviations - that's a 95% probability zone, meaning only 5% chance it goes that far.

So I bought 620 calls for 70 cents with almost $2 of expected movement still possible.

I'm risking 70 cents with $2 of expected movement left. I don't care if there's only 2 hours left in the day. I don't care about MACD or support levels.

I care about mathematical edge.

Here's how that math works over time:

Day 1: Risk 70 cents, lose
Day 2: Risk 70 cents, lose
Day 3: Risk 70 cents, make $2.80

You just made $70 profit being right 33% of the time.

That's not gambling. That's mathematics.

Why everyone thinks it's gambling

Here's what kills me about today's zero DTE market: everyone's doing it backwards.

They think it's about being right about market direction. They think it's gambling. They think it's too fast, you'll blow up.

These are true - if you don't have structure.

But zero DTE wasn't created as a casino game. It was built around mathematical edge. The same people who created this product - who I worked with for years at Thinkorswim and TD Ameritrade - we always looked at one thing first: risk versus reward.

Not MACD. Not Fibonacci. Not Bollinger Bands.

Risk versus reward.

The shift nobody saw coming

Wall Street Journal finally caught on last month: "Everyday traders go from fringe players to dominant market force."

Yeah, no shit. I've been watching this shift for 25 years.

You - retail specifically - are now driving what the professionals do. You're proactive, they're reactive. You buy calls, you're literally moving the market higher.

Zero DTE didn't just join the market. It IS the market now.

What the pros actually look for

Option selection criteria starts with this question: Can you be profitable in a 50/50 scenario?

If you flip a coin - heads you're bullish, tails you're bearish - and you're right exactly 50% of the time, would you make money?

If the answer is no, you don't have edge.

If the answer is yes, you've got the foundation of every professional zero DTE approach.

Then you add statistical edge. Expected moves. One standard deviation setups. Risk parameters that work even when you're wrong twice in a row.

That's not the zero DTE you see on Twitter. That's Don DTE - the structured way the people who created this product actually trade it.

Speed doesn't hurt traders. Guessing does.

Why this moment matters

Zero DTE is the most advantageous product to ever hit for retail traders. But the market has moved on whether you have or not.

Every morning you ask yourself: are you prepared for today? By the closing bell, it gives you the answer.

The people who created zero DTE? We didn't build it so you could YOLO into 0DTE SPY calls because some guy on Twitter said to. We built it around math. And if you're not using that math, you're just gambling with a fancy name for it.

Ready to learn the structured approach to zero DTE that the creators actually use?

I'm doing something I've never done before - a 4-week live mastermind exclusively on zero DTE. Real capital, real risk, real structure. This is "Don DTE" - the daily edge framework I've spent months putting together.

We start January 15th. Four 90-minute sessions plus a 3-hour live trading bonus. Everything recorded, 30-day money back guarantee, $1000 total investment.

Watch the full presentation here - see exactly how the risk/reward mathematics work, the statistical edge setups, and why being right 33% of the time is enough when you have the right structure.

To your success,

Don Kaufman

This is a one-time opportunity. When enrollment closes, it's gone.

P.S. I've been trading options for 25 years. This is the first time I've ever run a live mastermind exclusively on zero DTE. We start January 15th. When enrollment closes, it's done. Click here to join.

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