Three weeks are already gone. The next two weeks are probably the most important part of the month for anyone trading SPY 0DTE options, an eval account, or a funded account. 

Here's what's actually coming and how I'm thinking about each week.

This week: July 20 - 24

Monday is clean. Nothing moving the needle.

Wednesday is the first real session to respect. GOOGL and TSLA both are reporting after close. Two names that move sentiment fast - GOOGL on ad revenue and AI narrative, TSLA because volatility follows that stock everywhere. 

Since both report after close, the bigger SPY reaction likely shows up Thursday morning through the gap and pre market action. I would be careful touching anything early Thursday without seeing how the market digests those reports. 

Thursday also has RTX, TMUS, INTC. INTC can still affect semiconductor sentiment, which can bleed into broader tech. Not a full skip day for me, but not a full size day either.

I feel Friday is relatively cleaner with AXP, VZ, and HCA. Consumer spending read in this macro environment is worth noting. Relatively clean but not completely empty.

Week of July 28: this is the one

Tuesday seems like the cleanest day of the week. KO, Visa, S&P Global, and KLA matter, but nothing that moves SPY dramatically.

Wednesday, July 29 is the session to circle on the calendar right now. 

MSFT and META both reporting plus FOMC Statement dropping the same day.

Two of the largest SPY weights and a Fed decision. Same day. Premium going into that session will be elevated. Initial reactions will be fast and contradictory. MSFT moves one way, META moves another, then Warsh opens his mouth about rates and everything resets again.

For an eval account, this is as close to a no-trade day as it gets. Not because there's no opportunity, but because the noise to signal ratio is genuinely terrible. One wrong read on a FOMC + mega cap earnings day can do real damage to drawdown.

Thursday, July 30 

Core PCE and Advance Q2 GDP are scheduled before the open. The market will also be digesting MSFT and META from the night before. Then AAPL and AMZN report after the close.

So Thursday morning is macro data plus the MSFT/META reaction. Friday morning is where the AAPL/AMZN reaction matters more.

This is the part where I think a lot of 0DTE traders underestimate. The risk includes the event + second order reaction the next morning when SPY gaps, premium reprices, and the clean setup you planned becomes a completely different market. 

How I'm approaching the rest of the month

Normal risk: Tuesday next week, maybe Friday if things settle.

Reduced size: Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Very cautious or skip: July 29 and July 30

The eval account angle

If you're close to passing an evaluation account, these are the weeks where discipline matters more. A good strategy can still fail if you trade aggressively into FOMC, Core PCE, GDP, and mega cap earnings day at the same time. In a funded account or eval account, protect the buffer first. Let the market sort out the earnings chaos. Come back when the signal is actually clean.

My rule for the rest of July is simple:

• Trade normal when the calendar is normal
• Size down when the headline risk is elevated.
• Skip when the event risk can override the setup

Are you sizing down for July 29-30, or skipping those sessions completely?

GOOGL and TSLA report this week. MSFT, META, AAPL, and AMZN are lined up next week. FOMC hits July 29, then Core PCE and advance Q2 GDP land the next day.

For SPY/QQQ 0DTE traders, that means higher event risk, faster repricing, wider swings, and less room to average down or force a trade just because the market is moving. 

My plan is to keep it simple: Know the even times before the session. Size down around high volatility windows. Avoid holding 0DTE through major releases. Skip the session entirely if the only reason for trading is “big move = opportunity”

How is your eval account strategy?

trading can be all-consuming if you let it. especially during the weekend, you realize how mentally taxing it can be.

when you’re trying to pass an eval account and eventually get to a funded account, every missed chart or setup starts to feel important. it’s easy to spend Saturday replaying the week, checking charts, and planning Monday before you’ve actually reset.

if you trade US options around college, or other personal commitments, every spare min starts to feel like it should go towards the market. for a while, I felt guilty whenever I wasn’t looking at charts.

now I try to treat the weekend as part of the process. i review the week, note what I did well or need work, map a few important levels for the next session, and then step away.

getting outdoors, exercising, watching football, meeting friends, and putting my phone down helps me reset. personally, more screen time never improved my plan. sometimes it just creates more chances to overthink or look for a trade that was never really there.

that matters even more in an eval account. the goal is to follow the plan well enough to pass and reach a funded account, not to let every red trade or missed move take over the rest of the week.

i’m still working on it, especially after a rough week, but some of my better decisions have come from having space away from the charts.

that said, what are you guys doing this weekend before the next session starts?

Most 0DTE traders focus on direction. Which way is SPY going. Calls or puts? Entry level? 

But the amount of time remaining on the contract matters just as much, especially when trading inside an options eval account. Take the same Friday expiring SPY contract.

On Monday, it has roughly four days until expiration. By Friday, that same contract becomes -DTE. Same strike and expiration, but a completely different amount of time left for the trade to work. 

That is the real Monday vs Friday theta comparison.

What is theta

Theta is time decay. Every option contract loses value as time passes even if the price doesn't move against you. On a 0DTE contract this happens faster than any other expiration because the clock runs out the same day.

But not all days decay equally. And that difference is what I found out the hard way.

Monday the slow bleed for me

Buy a 0DTE call on Monday morning, SPY sits flat for two hours you're losing premium, but slowly. Theta is working against you but it's manageable. You still have time for the move to happen.

That's the blue line in the chart. Gradual, steady decay throughout the day. Painful if SPY doesn't move, but not instantly fatal. You have a window to be right.

This is why Monday gives you more room to breathe on 0DTE. The premium doesn't disappear immediately. If your setup is right and the move comes even mid morning you still capture real value.

Monday is where you learn. More time, more forgiveness, more room to let a trade develop without theta eating you alive while you wait.

Friday the cliff

Same setup on Friday? Completely different experience.

Friday 0DTE theta is aggressive from the open. Every minute that passes without a move in your direction is costing you significantly more than it would on any other day. Why? Because Friday contracts expire at 4pm there's no tomorrow. Market makers know this and price it in from the start.

That red line in the chart isn't gradual. It holds okay through midday then absolutely falls off a cliff into close. By 2pm your premium is getting destroyed. By 3pm you're watching your option lose value in real time even if SPY is barely moving against you.

That's not bad luck. That's just Friday theta doing exactly what it always does.

What this means in an options eval account

Just wanted to point out that - The chart is a simplified example of how I manage time risk, not a literal pricing model or backtest. Actual option premium also depends on SPY’s movement, strike selection, implied volatility and entry time. 

On Monday, the blue line represents the extra patience I may give a valid setup when I enter early and the trade thesis is still intact. I am not assuming theta will be harmless, but I may allow the position slightly more time to develop instead of expecting an immediate move. 

On Friday, the red line represents the risk of holding a 0DTE position later into the session. As expiration approaches, there is less time for the expected move to happen, and any remaining extrinsic value must eventually disappear. Holding a stalled Friday 0DTE trade into 2-3 pm leaves very little time for the position to recover. 

This matters in an eval account because the evaluation rules do not change how theta works, but a slow premium loss can still consume part of the account’s available drawdown. The same risk remains after passing the evaluation and moving to a funded account.

Friday isn't untradeable. But the margin for error is razor thin for me. 

The simple rule

Blue line: more patience only while the setup remains valid. More time is not permission to enter carelessly or keep adding to a losing position. 

Red line: tighter time stop and no holding into the afternoon solely because the option might recover.

Same contract. Same ticker. Completely different clock running against you depending on which day you're sitting down to trade.

Look at that chart one more time before your next Friday trade. It'll save you from holding "just a little longer" at least once.

Which day do you find easiest to trade 0DTE and have you noticed the theta difference yourself?

Being far from an eval account nowhere near the target is actually comfortable. There’s no finish line sitting directly in front of you, so it’s easier to trade the strategy and let the account build gradually. 

However, when you are one trade away from passing then it creates a different psychological problem. 

What the dashboard shows

Balance at $54,935.50 with Day RPL +$481, already on the session. The evaluation profit target was $55,000.

That meant I was only $64.50 away from passing the eval and moving to the funded account stage.

This is exactly where things go wrong.

Why getting close changes your decision making

I came across a psychological term “goal-gradient effect”. It means when people get closer to a visible reward, they tend to increase their effort and become more determined to finish.

In an eval account, that extra urgency isn’t always helpful. 

Every setup gets filtered through one question "does this get me there today?".  Setups you'd normally skip start looking acceptable because the target is so close. Position sizing creeps up because bigger size means fewer trades needed to cross the line.

None of that is your actual trading. All of it is the target talking.

Why I didn’t force the last $64.50

I was already up $481 for the session. The strategy had worked, and it was a clean green day.

The market doesn’t care that an eval trader is close to the profit target. It won’t provide a clean setup just because my account needs another $64.50 to pass.

Forcing another trade will risk a good session as well as move the balance further from the target. I did not want the next session to be harder than it needed to be so stopping felt like a better strategy to me. So I stopped. The account stays intact, and I could return the next day with a fresh session instead of forcing the final trade. 

Sometimes the best way to pass a trading evaluation is to stop treating the remaining target like it has to be reached today. 

Have you ever been one trade away from passing an eval account and tried to force it that same day? Looking for some tips here.

Was done for the day. P&L was fine. Session was over mentally.

Then I took another trade.

Not because there was a setup. Because the screen was still open and I was still sitting there and my brain needed something to do. That's it. That's the whole reason.

What the chart shows

Short entry at the 9 EMA. Volume was low. I annotated on the chart where I ‘was done for the day’ meaning I knew that this wasn't the right call. I went with the trade anyway.

EMAs were pointing down, so the setup looked close enough. But, close enough is not a setup.

This is where boredom trading turns into overtrading, especially with SPY 0DTE options or any funded account/eval account where every unnecessary trade affects drawdown, risk management, and sometimes even the daily loss limit.

What happened after

I held it for 50 minutes straight. Not because the trade was developing. Because closing it meant admitting that I should not have taken it.

Price went nowhere. Volume never really came in. Theta decay slowly did what theta decay does when you’re holding options without movement behind the position.

Closed it for a small loss.

The actual cost

The loss was small.

But the real cost was 50 minutes of screen time, mental energy, and eval drawdown spent on a trade that had one reason behind it - I was bored and still sitting there.

A clean session became a slightly messy one for no reason. The market didn't do anything wrong. I just refused to close the laptop when the day was actually over.

This was not a strategy trade. Just a trade done out of boredom. Completely different category.

Requires a completely different fix which is just closing the platform when you're done instead of finding reasons to stay.

Done for the day means done.

Not done unless another 9 EMA trade appears.

How many of your losses this month were actual strategy failures versus just trades you had no real reason to take?

Another $3,000.00 cleared and sent via Rise. When you have a solid strategy for options spreads, you shouldn't be held back by a lack of trading capital. We handle the funding so you can focus entirely on executing your edge. No delays, no nonsense just quick payouts for disciplined traders!!!

Most trading content talks about what makes a setup valid. Entry criteria, confirmations, indicator alignment. All useful.

But in an eval account, what kills a setup before entry matters even more. Because in an eval account, you are trying to find trades + trying to pass the evaluation cleanly enough to reach a funded account. That means protecting drawdown, avoiding unnecessary losses, and not wasting a trading day on a weak setup.

For me, one of the biggest invalidation signs is price roaming around the 9 EMA with no conviction. 

Look at this chart. Price just sitting on the 9 EMA, but it’s not pulling back clean to it. It is not bouncing decisively from it either. Just... hovering around the same level, with candles crossing back and forth and low volume behind every single one of them.

That's not a pullback entry.

The 9 EMA pullback only works when price moves away from it with momentum, comes back to test it, and reacts. What this chart shows is the price that never actually left. Just roaming around the level going nowhere.

Low volume confirms it. The market hasn't made a decision yet. There is no conviction in either direction. Entering there isn't reading a setup, it's guessing which way the next candle breaks.

In a regular account, maybe that is just a bad trade. In an eval account, that kind of entry can damage the whole day because one low-quality 0DTE options trade can hit harder than expected. 

Other things that instantly kill the setup for me:

Volume not matching the move. Big candle, tiny volume that move isn't real. Price moved, but participation did not follow. 

EMAs tangled together. If 9, 21 and 50 EMA are all crossing each other, nothing is stacked. No stack means no clean momentum. No clean momentum means no trade.

News within the next 30 minutes. It doesn't matter how clean the chart looks. One headline or economic release can reset the whole setup. This matters in an eval account because the drawdown rules do not care why the trade failed.

First 15 minutes of the session. It’s important to me because a setup during the open is usually not a setup for me. Just noise. 

The actual rule

A setup isn't valid just because the criteria are technically met. Context has to support it. Price roaming around an EMA with low volume and no direction is the chart telling you to wait. Not enter.

Reading that signal correctly has saved me more money than any entry technique, especially when trading options inside an eval.

What's the first thing that makes you walk away from a setup?

Love seeing these confirmation screens go out to our trading community.

Another successful payout of $3,194.00 processed via Rise is officially in the books. When you combine crystal clear rules with automated, reliable payment processing, this is the result.

Huge congratulations to the trader on the disciplined execution!

One thing I wish I'd accepted sooner is that I can't trade like someone who sits in front of charts all day. For a long time I'd compare myself to people posting SPY and 0DTE options trades throughout the session and feel like I was constantly missing opportunities.

The reality is I have a full-time job, responsibilities outside of trading, and limited screen time. That becomes even more important during an eval account, where forcing one unnecessary trade can damage the account more than missing a good setup.

A few things that have helped me manage both:

1. I used to check charts constantly throughout the day. Now I rely much more on alerts and let the market come to me. With options, especially 0DTE, opening the chart every few minutes usually makes me chase after every move. 
2. I'd rather understand 2-3 setups really well than try to trade everything. It also helps during an eval account because I am less likely to take a random trade just because I have a small window available.
3. Before the market opens, I identify the important levels, the setups I am interested in, my maximum risk, and the conditions that would invalidate the trade. 
4. Accept you'll miss trades. There will always be another breakout, runner or perfect options entry that happens while I am working. And guess what? Once I became more comfortable missing trades, i stopped forcing as many bad ones. 

Sometimes the best trade is no trade. Some of my worst eval account decisions came from feeling that I needed to make something happen during the small window I had available.

So when do I turn the charts off?

I try to stop when:

• My planned trading window has ended
• My setup is no longer available
• I have reached my daily risk limit
• Taking another trade would put my eval account rules at unnecessary risk
• I notice that I am checking charts when I should be focused on work or the people around me

One thing that surprised me is how much my trading improved when I stopped thinking only about trading.

Regular exercise, getting outdoors, spending time with family and friends, and occasionally putting the phone down completely has probably improved my decision-making more than adding another indicator.

Still a Work in Progress

One area I still struggle with is consistency. Not consistency in showing up, but consistency in sticking to my plan. I'd love to say I've mastered that side of trading, but I definitely haven't.

With the weekend here, I’m trying to actually switch off instead of spending two days replaying trades or thinking about Monday’s setups.

For those balancing a full time job with an options eval or funded account, what does your routine look like?

Nobody talks about this hour. Everyone's obsessed with the open. First candle, gap fill, first move. I get it. The 9:30 open has volume and opportunity.

But in a funded options eval, the open can also be where the account gets damaged fast. One bad entry at 9:35 can burn premium, hit daily drawdown, and put you in recovery mode before the cleaner setups even show up.

That’s why 10 am to 11am became my cleanest window. By then, the first 30 minutes have already shown something. The opening range is formed. The fake first move has usually happened. The early FOMO traders are either stopped out or stuck managing a bad entry.

What this chart shows

Entered at the 9/21 EMA. Both EMAs were stacked and pointing up. Price pulled back, held the level, and continued. That matters more to me than trying to guess the first candle at 9:30.
TP hit in under 10 minutes.

The entry wasn’t perfect, but the timing was cleaner. The EMAs had settled into a direction, price had structure and I wasn't trading the opening chop.
Same entry at 9:35 looks completely different.

Wicks everywhere, EMAs crossed and tangled, no real conviction. You can be right in direction and still get stopped out because the market has not settled yet.

This matters even more with a funded options account. Direction alone isn’t enough. Timing matters because theta, spread, chop, and daily drawdown all punish bad entries fast.

Why most traders miss this window

They're already in a bad trade from the open managing losses. Or they got stopped out early and are mentally done with the session. Or they think the "real move" only happens at the open and anything after is scraps.

But when i checked my journal, a lot of my better trades were not from the open. They were after the open settled.

Simple version

9:30 the market is figuring itself out. 10am is when I would rather trade what the market already showed me.

For me, the filter is simple:
• Wait for the first 30 mins.
• Let the opening range form
• Look for 9/21 EMA alignment
• Take the clean pullback, not the emotional first move

That one timing shift helped me avoid a lot of unnecessary early drawdown in eval accounts.

What time do your actual winning trades happen?

Not every SPY 0DTE day needs to be a two-sided battle.

Most traders wake up, open the chart, and try to figure out what SPY is doing in real time. Both directions on the table, waiting for "confirmation." End up getting chopped trying to catch every move.

I stopped doing that.

Some days I come in with one direction after the opening range is set. I don't flip it unless something genuinely breaks.

Here’s how i decide

First 30 minutes I'm just watching. Not trading. The opening range builds itself high and low of that first candle marked. That's the range. That's what I care about.

Next candle breaks the high? Bullish bias for the day. Calls only.

Next candle breaks the low? Bearish. Puts only.

Chops inside the range? No bias. Probably no trade either.

This part matters, a failed breakdown does not mean I instantly flip bullish. It usually means I stand down. In a funded options eval, protecting drawdown matters more than proving I can trade both directions.

Look at this chart. The 30 min ORB broke to the downside. That made the day bearish for me. No flipping, no second guessing which direction to trade.

Where the 9 EMA comes in

Once I have the bias I'm not chasing the breakout candle. That's how you get faked out on the initial move.

I wait for the pullback. Price breaks the ORB low, starts moving down, then pulls back into the 9 EMA. That pullback on the chart that's the entry. Short at 9 EMA pullback, clean. Not the break itself. The retest after the break.

The difference is everything. Breakout entries get you in at the worst price with maximum risk. EMA pullback gives you structure. You know exactly where you're wrong the moment you enter.

Why I trade one direction only

Because flipping is where accounts die.

Call doesn't work, flip to puts, that doesn't work either. Two losses on the same move. No conviction in either direction.

One direction forces you to be right or sit out. That's it. Two options, both manageable.

And when it works it works. That setup above, one direction, one entry at the 9 EMA pullback. Day RPL closed at $5,990. Not because I caught every move. Because I waited for one clean setup in the direction the market already told me it wanted to go.

That number doesn't happen by trading both sides and hoping.

What actually matters

The ORB just tells you which team to be on. The EMA pullback tells you when to actually get on the field. Together, they keep the trade simple with one bias, one setup, and one invalidation point.

Doesn't work every day. Some days the range breaks and reverses hard. Stop is a stop.

But on the days it works, there's no confusion. No second guessing. Just waiting and executing.

What does your pre-open bias process look like?

Earnings season starting. Fed minutes midweek. Full five days. For a funded options eval, this is the kind of week where protecting drawdown matters more than trying to predict every candle. 

Here's how I'm moving around this week.

Key levels on SPY right now

SPY sitting at $744.75. That's the exact number that matters right now sitting right between two zones with no clean conviction either way.

$750 is the level. Look at the chart. Price tagged it, got rejected, came back, got rejected again. Two clean rejections at the same zone. Until that breaks with volume, I’m treating it's a ceiling.

$757.50 above that is the bigger resistance. That's where the real breakout conversation starts, but it does not matter much until $750 clears first. 

$740 is immediate support. Price is dancing right above it. Lose $740 and the next real floor is $735, then $732.50.

EMAs are crossed and tangled around current price. 9, 21, 50 all bunched together around  is not a clean trending market. That's chop looking for a reason to pick a direction.

Simple framework this week:

• $750 breaks with volume = bullish, calls on retest
• $740 loses and fails to reclaim = bearish, puts on dead cat
• Stuck between $740-750 = dead zone, no trade, wait

What's on the calendar

Tuesday looks like the cleanest day of the week. No major macro catalyst, so normal rules apply. 

Wednesday: FOMC Meeting Minutes drop and the market will be reading tone, not just the headline. Any rate hike language creeping back in and SPY sells immediately. Levi Strauss earnings after close too consumer sentiment read. Sizing down around the minutes.

Thursday PepsiCo before open. Consensus $2.21 per share, some analysts already flagging North America weakness. Consumer staples missing pre-market means gap risk on the open. Unemployment Claims printing same day. Messy morning likely. Waiting for 10am minimum before touching anything.

Friday Delta Air Lines before open. Airlines are volatile on prints. Another pre-market mover. Not jumping in blind Friday morning.

Data already in

ISM Services PMI came in 54.2 vs prior 54.5. Still expansionary, slight miss. Not a concern but not bullish fuel either.

Unemployment Claims 218K vs prior 215K. Marginally higher. Labor market still holding but the trend is worth watching.

Overall bias

Honestly the chart says it better than any macro narrative. 

Two rejections at $750. EMAs tangled. Price sitting on a support that hasn't been tested hard yet.

That's not a market screaming go long. That's a market that needs a catalyst to pick a side. FOMC Minutes Wednesday could be that catalyst in either direction.

Not coming in with a directional lean until $750 or $740 makes a decision. Let the levels do the work. ORB each morning tells me which side to be on that day.

VIX at 15.81 means conditions are tradeable. Just not aggressive.

What's your line in the sand this week - $750 reclaim or $740 breakdown?

More time on charts feels productive. Like research. Like discipline.

But after a point, it’s just boredom in the name of analysis. Your brain stares long enough and suddenly every candle starts looking like a setup.

Look at this trade history.

Nine trades. Switching between puts and calls on the same ticker, same expiry, same morning. Puts, calls, calls, puts, calls again.

That's not a strategy. That's a brain that stayed on the screen too long and started seeing setups that weren't there.

The dangerous part is none of the losses look terrible by themselves: -$29, -$16, -$23.

It doesn't feel like blowing up. It feels like "almost got it." That's what makes it dangerous. Death by a hundred small bad trades nobody warns you about.

The loop is simple:

Long session → more trades → more forced entries → more losses → stay longer to make it back → more trades.

Doesn't end with a better win rate. Ends with a blown account and a journal full of trades you knew were wrong while clicking buy anyway.

What changed for me

Shorter sessions. Hard stop on number of trades. If the first two don't work, laptop closes.

Less screen time forced better filters. Can't afford bad trades if you're only there for 90 minutes.

In an options funded account, avoiding one bad forced trade can matter more than catching one extra setup.

Funny how that works, but how many trades are you averaging per session?

Vanquish is celebrating 4th of July with a flat 50% off across all the plans for both basic and advance options accounts.

If you have been on the sidelines to try Vanquish or have questions before getting started, do not hesitate to join the free Vanquish Discord community.

Most traders look at price. Where did it go, how fast, what candle pattern formed. But price alone doesn't tell you why it stopped where it stopped.

Volume profile helps with that.

It's just showing you where actual trading happened. Not when. Where. That shift in thinking changes a lot, especially if you’re trading SPY 0DTE inside an eval account where one bad entry can mess with your drawdown buffer.

What the chart is actually telling you

Look at this. VAH at 739.00, VAL around 738.50. That's your value area where the bulk of volume got transacted. Price inside that range isn't doing anything interesting. Market accepted those prices.

That 7.29K bar around 738.70 is the real thing to notice. That's a HVN. Enormous amount of contracts traded right there. Price doesn't just cut through that level cleanly. It gets absorbed, slows down, sometimes just dies. Not because of some indicator signal. Because there's real supply and demand sitting there from actual transactions.

Then there are the gaps. Tiny bars, near zero volume. Those levels have no history. There’s less prior participation there. Price tends to move through those fast because there's nothing to stop it.

Why it actually matters

You can have a perfect looking SPY 0DTE and still lose because you walked straight into a HVN 40 cents above your entry. The trade wasn't always wrong, sometimes it can be location.

For a funded options eval, that matters even more. You don’t just need direction. You need clean location, because chop near heavy volume can burn entries, stops, and drawdown.

Volume profile just tells you where the traffic is before you drive into it. That's it. Not magic, just context that price charts alone don't give you.

Anyone else layering Volume Profile for SPY/options evals, or is this mostly a futures tool in your workflow?

This is a common question we see on Reddit. Join our discord and check the 'payout-feed' channel for the answer.