How to Automate a SPY 0DTE Iron Condor on Tradetron (No Code)
A SPY 0DTE iron condor is four options legs that all expire today: a short put spread below the market and a short call spread above it. Traders like it because the structure has a defined maximum loss and because same-day options lose value fast. They dislike it because it demands attention every minute until the close. Automation fixes the second problem without touching the first.
This guide walks through one way to build it on Tradetron without writing code. It is an example of how to express a plan as rules, not a recommendation to trade this structure.
What you are automating
Say it in plain English first. A rule you cannot write in one sentence is a rule the platform cannot run.
At 10:00 am ET, if SPY has not moved more than 0.75% from its open, sell a put spread and a call spread expiring today, each short strike about 1% away from the current price, each wing $5 wide. Close the whole position at 50% of the credit collected, or if the loss reaches twice the credit, or at 3:45 pm ET, whichever comes first. Trade once a day. Stop for the day if the daily loss limit is hit.
That paragraph has everything the builder needs. The numbers are placeholders for the example; yours come from your own testing.
Step 1: the instrument and the expiry
In the Strategy Builder, set the exchange to US options and the underlying to SPY. For the expiry, pick the same-day contract. SPY lists options expiring every weekday, so "today's expiry" exists on any trading day; on a market holiday there is no session and the strategy simply does nothing.
Two facts about SPY options shape the rest of the design:
- They are American-style and physically settled. A short option that finishes in the money becomes 100 shares of SPY (or a short position of 100 shares) in your account. A 0DTE condor you forget to close can turn into stock overnight.
- Regular options trading on SPY ends at 4:15 pm ET, fifteen minutes after the stock market closes, but automatic exercise is decided on the 4:00 pm ET closing price. Your time exit should be comfortably before 4:00 pm ET.
If you would rather avoid assignment entirely, XSP (one-tenth of SPX, cash-settled) is the usual alternative, and the same rules apply with different strike spacing. Our post on index options for US traders covers the differences.
Step 2: the entry condition
An entry condition is a sentence that is either true or false at each check. For the example above:
- Time window: entry allowed from 10:00 am to 10:05 am ET. Set the entry start and end time in the strategy settings. Anything before 10:00 am ET lets the opening volatility settle; the five-minute window means the strategy tries once and moves on.
- Range filter: the absolute change from today's open is less than 0.75%. Build it as a comparison between the current price and the day's open.
- Once a day: cap the number of entries per day at one.
If all three are true at a check, the strategy enters all four legs together.
Step 3: the four legs
Add four positions under the same entry:
| Leg | Action | Strike selection | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short put | Sell | about 1% below the current price | collects the put-side credit |
| Long put | Buy | $5 below the short put | caps the put-side loss |
| Short call | Sell | about 1% above the current price | collects the call-side credit |
| Long call | Buy | $5 above the short call | caps the call-side loss |
Tradetron lets you choose strikes relative to the current price (a distance in dollars or a number of strikes out of the money), so the legs follow the market each morning. Quantity is one contract per leg for testing. Enter the legs together so you are never left with an unprotected short.
Step 4: the exits
This is where most of the work is, and where automation earns its place. The condor needs three exits that race each other:
- Profit target. Close all four legs when the position's open profit reaches 50% of the credit collected. Set this at the strategy level, in dollars of strategy P&L, so it covers all legs together.
- Stop. Close everything when the loss reaches two times the credit. Also strategy-level. Some traders prefer per-leg stops on the short strikes only; Tradetron supports both, and the backtest will tell you which behaves better on your data.
- Time exit. Close everything at 3:45 pm ET, no matter what. Set the square-off time. This is the rule that keeps a same-day condor from becoming shares.
Add a daily loss limit on top: if the strategy's loss for the day reaches your number, it stops trading until the next day.
Step 5: test before a dollar is at risk
Run the strategy through Tradetron's backtester on SPY same-day and weekly options first. The backtest uses minute-level option data and lets you set the costs. Read it as a test of your rules, not a forecast.
Then deploy it Live Offline: the strategy runs on live prices during the real session, shows every trade it would have placed and the P&L it would have had, and places no order. A week of Live Offline sessions shows you what the backtest cannot: how the entry window behaves on a CPI morning, whether the strike rule picks what you meant, how often the time exit fires. Our guide to Live Offline for US options walks through reading those sessions. One Live Offline deployment is included on the free plan.
Only after that, connect your broker and deploy with one contract. Alpaca, tastytrade, Tradier, TradeStation, Interactive Brokers, Webull, E*TRADE, TradeZero and Robinhood connect to Tradetron; your account needs the options approval level for spreads. How the broker connection works.
What automation does and does not do
It does: enter at the time you said, pick the strikes you described, hold the stop and target and time exit without blinking, and log why each trade happened.
It does not: know that today is a Fed decision day, prevent a gap through both wings, or improve a structure that loses on your data. Those stay with you, in the rules and in the decision to run them.
Frequently asked questions
Why 10:00 am ET and not the open?
The first thirty minutes carry the overnight news and the opening auction. Most same-day condor traders wait for that to settle so the short strikes are placed on a calmer price. Your testing decides the window; 10:00 am ET is the example.
Can I run this on SPX instead of SPY?
Yes. SPX and XSP are cash-settled, so there is no share assignment, and SPX options trade until 4:15 pm ET with a different multiplier. The rules are the same; the strike spacing and the dollar amounts change.
What plan do I need?
Building, backtesting and one Live Offline deployment are on the free plan. Running the condor live in your broker account starts with the Starter plan at $15 a month. Fees are on the pricing page.
