On Wednesday, March 4th, a trade on $META was a good example of how quickly things can unfold when momentum shows up early in the session—and how important it is to adapt when something unexpected happens.
The Setup
Around 9:35 AM, I was watching $META 665 calls as price started to push higher after the open. Two minutes later the trade triggered.
Entry: $META BTO 4MAR26 665C at $3.23
Stop: 657.96
Targets: 665.35 → 667.46 → 676
The idea was simple: if $META could continue pushing higher after the morning volatility settled, the calls could move quickly. And they did.
Early Momentum
Once the move started, the options responded immediately. I began trimming into strength as price pushed higher:
- 9:53 AM: Trim at $3.60
- 9:55 AM: Trim at $3.94
- 9:56 AM: Trim at $4.40 (runners only)
- 10:00 AM: Trim runners at $5.40
- 10:27 AM: Final exit at $6.50
From the $3.23 entry to $6.50, the trade ended up delivering a strong move while the stock continued trending higher.
The 0DTE Twist
This trade had one wrinkle—I accidentally bought the 0DTE contract (same-day expiration).
That makes the trade much more sensitive to price movement. After entry, $META pulled back toward our $657.96 stop, which created a sharper drawdown than normal.
With regular expirations I usually use 20–30% stops, but with 0DTE I allow closer to 50% because the contracts move so quickly.
Luckily price bounced right near our stop level and momentum followed.
Because it was 0DTE, I chose to scale out aggressively and close the position into strength. If this had been a later expiration, holding runners toward $676 would have made more sense.
Final Thoughts
0DTE options can be powerful when momentum shows up—but they leave very little room for error.
They can produce big moves fast, but they can also work against you just as quickly.
In this case, the trade worked out and the plan held.
Sometimes the market gives you a little grace.