0DTE Portfolio Backtest: 3 SPX Strategies Combined (Is 0DTE Dead? Part 4)
Is 0DTE dead? Part 4 combines a power hour condor, a McRib butterfly and a NORB condor into one portfolio backtest, then shows the 28% drawdown uncapped.
Over three videos, the “0DTE Is Dead?” series looked at three simple SPX 0DTE backtests. Part 4 puts them together. Run as one portfolio at one lot each, they had done well in the backtest over the 90 days before the April 2026 video and over the roughly four years since SPX daily expirations. Run uncapped, the return gets much bigger, and so does the drawdown: 28%.
Matt from Option Omega built the portfolio as a capstone to the series. What he wanted viewers to notice was less the headline return than that 28% drawdown, and whether they would actually trade through it.
The three strategies
Each one was covered in its own video:
| Part | Strategy | Premium | Exit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | Power hour iron condor, Mondays and Fridays | Selling | 50% profit target or timed exit |
| Part 2 | McRib reverse iron butterfly with VIX drop and RSI filters | Buying | None; held to expiration |
| Part 3 | Non-opening-range-breakout (NORB) iron condor | Selling | None; held to expiration |
Two of the three have no exit at all. Matt called them no-touch, “ride or die” trades. The third has one simple exit. In his words, these are not strategies that take a lot of complexity to trade.
How the portfolio was built
Building it in Option Omega takes a few clicks:
- Go to New Portfolio.
- Set the date range. The first run used the last 90 days.
- Select the tag used for this video series, which pulls in all three saved tests.
- Run it.
Each strategy was set to a 5% allocation and a one lot, which trades one lot of each on a $100,000 account. Option Omega then runs the backtests together and shows combined ratios, a combined trade log, and the P&L curve.
Results at one lot
Last 90 days
Over the 90 days before the video, Matt said the portfolio had done pretty well, with “a decent number of trades.” Keep in mind the ratios reflect capped backtests. Each strategy trades one lot, so the numbers do not compound.
Since dailies
Extending the range back to SPX daily expirations, about four years, the one-lot portfolio held up strongly across what Matt called “a goodly number of trades.” In his words, even at one lot, “that thing has crushed it since dailies.”
He added the usual caution: backtesting is backward-looking. Nobody has a crystal ball.
Uncapped: where you feel the drawdown
The second run used the same portfolio, still at 5% per strategy, but uncapped, so position size grows with the account.
Matt’s two notes on that setting:
- A 5% allocation per strategy is probably more than most people would allocate to a trade. Allocation is a topic for another video.
- Uncapped results show the actual drawdowns. As he put it, “You can feel them. They’re not capped.”
| One lot (capped) | Uncapped, 5% each | |
|---|---|---|
| Position size | One lot per strategy | Grows with the account |
| Since dailies | Matt: “crushed it since dailies” | Roughly 80x the starting money, per Matt |
| Max drawdown | Not shown in the video | 28% |
Matt’s point: everyone is happy to look at a curve that shows something like 80 times your money since dailies. But most people are not going to trade through a 28% drawdown. “They’re just not going to.”
That’s why he wanted viewers to look at the drawdown before the headline return. A backtest’s return assumes you kept trading through every drawdown along the way.
Why simple strategies
Matt says they tried not to overfit the strategies in this series. Each idea fits in a sentence:
- The power hour condor sells premium a couple of days a week late in the day.
- The McRib buys premium when the market isn’t stretched and VIX has eased.
- The NORB condor sells premium when the opening range holds.
In his words, these are concepts you can take and make your own strategies.
So, is 0DTE dead?
Based on these backtests, Matt’s answer for this series was no. At the time of the video, each of the three had done well in its backtest, and combined they had done well as a portfolio. But the portfolio view also makes the cost clear. Even a set of 0DTE strategies that had done well historically can produce a drawdown most traders would quit during.
The series was made because many traders said they were struggling and did not know what to trade. Matt’s response for anyone in that spot was that they’re not alone. In his opinion, trading without a community is one of the hardest things to do. The OO Discord is free to join for verified OO users with an active subscription, and verification takes about a minute.
Key takeaways
- Three simple 0DTE SPX backtests (power hour condor, McRib butterfly, NORB condor) were combined into one Option Omega portfolio.
- At one lot each on a $100,000 account, the portfolio had done well over the 90 days before the April 2026 video and the roughly four years since dailies.
- Uncapped at 5% per strategy, Matt described roughly 80x growth with a 28% drawdown.
- In Matt’s view, uncapped results show the actual drawdowns in a way one-lot results do not.
- Matt says the strategies were kept simple to avoid overfitting.
Build your own portfolio
In Option Omega you can backtest each strategy, tag the saved tests, run them together as a portfolio, and compare capped and uncapped sizing before you automate anything.
Watch the full video: Is 0DTE Dead? We Combined All 3 Strategies Into a Portfolio (Part 4).
Backtest results are hypothetical and do not guarantee future performance. Options trading involves substantial risk.
