Zero days to expiration (0DTE) options

Zero Days to Expiration (0DTE) options are options contracts that expire on the same trading day they are traded — the most short-lived category of options, where all time value erodes to zero by the end of the session and the contract settles based purely on whether it expires in the money or out of the money. 0DTE trading has become extremely popular globally and in India since NSE introduced daily expiry options for various indices — Nifty 50 options expire every Thursday, Bank Nifty every Wednesday, FinNifty every Tuesday, and Sensex options every Friday, creating near-daily 0DTE opportunities for Indian traders. 0DTE options carry extremely high gamma (sensitivity of delta to price changes) in the final hours, meaning small price moves in the underlying cause disproportionately large changes in option premium — creating both high profit potential and extreme loss risk for poorly managed positions. Short 0DTE strategies — selling out-of-the-money strangles or iron condors on expiry day — have gained enormous popularity among Indian retail traders because of the rapid time decay and high theta income on expiry day. However, SEBI's studies have consistently shown that the majority of retail F&O participants lose money — 0DTE strategies require exceptional discipline, precise position sizing, and risk management to be sustainably profitable.