The 0DTE Feature Explained
0DTE Feature Explained
The Unusual Whales 0DTE feature offers a collection of 0 days til expiration (expiring “today”) for all Equities, ETFs, Indices, and all of them combined. These are all separated into their own individual, respective charts. Each chart visualizes the Net Premium and Net Volume for all 0 DTE (zero days to expiration) and weekly options, displayed alongside the SPY price for easy comparison.
You can filter the data by moneyness (In the Money, At the Money, Out of the Money), option type (Equities, Index, ETF), and expiration type (Weekly or 0 DTE).
When a single combination of moneyness and security type is selected, the chart displays both net call premium and net put premium as separate lines. If multiple combinations are selected, these values are merged into a single net premium line.
Changes in net premium or net volume can help interpret market sentiment, and you can get a full breakdown of net premium in this article:
- Rising values in net call premium, or falling values in net put premium, may reflect bullish behavior.
- Falling values in net call premium, or rising values in net put premium, may signal bearish sentiment.
- It is important to note that these assumptions are NOT clear indications of bearish or bullish movement, however. See this video here for a breakdown of some important nuances to net premiums
Equity Chart
The Equity chart tracks exactly that; all optionable equities (such as Amazon $AMZN, Apple $AAPL, and Google $GOOGL). One thing to note about equities is the lack of daily expirations. Unlike SPY, QQQ, and indices like SPX, equities only have weekly expirations; meaning contract expiration dates fall only on the last trading day of each week. For these, you will see only the “Weekly” expiration volume and values.
Here, we see the Equity chart set to ALL moneyness, as well as OTM/ATM toggled on to compare, and the Weekly expiration. Across the board, in this example, options positioning is more bullish than bearish; in line with the $SPY underlying price for the day.
ETF Chart
The ETF chart does the same for all optionable ETFs (such as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust $SPY or the Invesco QQQ Trust $QQQ). The ETFs $SPY, $IWM, and $QQQ do indeed have “same day expirations” numerous days per week, and by default will display 0DTE and weekly expiration data, which you can toggle to your liking with the Expirations dropdown.
Other ETFs such as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund $VOO or sector ETFs such as CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY SELECT SECTOR SPDR FUND $XLY do not have daily expirations in the same manner as SPY and QQQ, so keep that in mind when toggling your settings!
Here, we have the ETF-only chart set to 0DTE only, and both Out of the money only contracts AND “All moneyness” to compare OTM-only to ALL. Across the board in this example, for 0dte contracts, options premiums are firmly bullish, in-line with the underlying $SPY uptrend on the day.
Index Chart
The Indices chart tracks each individual optionable index, such as the S&P 500 index, $SPX S&P Mini, $XSP, and the Nasdaq 100 Index $NDX. These, like the QQQ and SPY ETFs, also have daily expirations, ($SPXW for $SPX, and $NDXP for $NDX) and you can toggle between daily and weekly using the Expirations drop-down box. Other indices, such as the $VIX, $MNX or $SPX and $NDX tickers themselves may only have weekly or monthly expirations.
Here, we see the Index-only chart, set to out of the money only, and the 0 day expiry. Note the positive net call premium and volume, and negative net put premium; 0DTE Index Options Traders in this example are sitting in more bullish than bearish positions.
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