Track A Exam — 0DTE Mastery

This is the Track A final exam for Alpha Academy Level 3. It tests what you learned in The 0DTE Arena through The 0DTE Playbook: the 0DTE arena, 0DTE structures, timing and the session map, the risk commandments, and the 0DTE playbook.

There are 30 multiple-choice questions. Each question has four options, A through D, and exactly one correct answer. Some questions ask you to work out dollar amounts. Do the math on paper before you choose — on a real 0DTE trade, the math is the trade.

Pass mark: 80%. That means at least 24 of 30 correct. If you score below 24, your answer key tells you exactly which module to re-study for each miss. Re-study, then take the exam again.

Take it closed book, in one sitting, with no phone. Treat it like a trading session: no rushing, no guessing your way out of a bad position.

The Questions

1. What does 0DTE mean?

A) An option with zero days of time value left at any point in its life
B) An option that expires on the same trading day you are trading it
C) An option contract that costs nothing to buy
D) An option that can only be traded in the first hour of the day

2. How does time decay (theta) behave on the day an option expires?

A) It slows down, because there is almost no time value left to lose
B) It stays flat and predictable all day long
C) It accelerates sharply, and a bought option can melt toward zero even if the underlying barely moves
D) It only matters for sellers, never for buyers

3. Why do 0DTE premiums swing so violently in the final hours?

A) Gamma is at its highest near expiration, so a small move in the underlying causes a large, fast change in the option's price sensitivity and price
B) Brokers widen every quote on purpose near the close
C) The exchanges add a surcharge that moves prices
D) Market makers stop quoting, so prices jump randomly

4. Which statement about SPX index options is correct?

A) They settle in shares of the S&P 500 stocks
B) They are American-style and can be assigned early
C) They give the holder shares if held to expiration
D) They are cash-settled and European-style, so there is no early assignment

5. Which statement about SPY options is correct?

A) They are cash-settled like SPX options
B) They are American-style, settle in shares, and early assignment is a real risk for option sellers
C) They can never be assigned before expiration
D) They expire worthless every day no matter what the price does

6. You buy a 0DTE call for $1.50. The underlying stalls and drifts slightly against you. What is the worst realistic outcome by the close?

A) The entire $150 per contract is lost — a bought 0DTE option can lose 100% of its premium in minutes
B) You can only lose half the premium, because expiration protects buyers
C) You lose nothing, because a stalled market returns your premium
D) Your loss is capped at the bid-ask spread

7. What is the maximum loss on a credit spread?

A) The credit received
B) Unlimited, like selling a naked option
C) The width of the spread minus the credit received, times 100 per spread
D) The width of the spread plus the credit received, times 100 per spread

8. You sell one 5-point-wide credit spread and collect $1.20 in credit. What is your maximum loss on that one spread?

A) $120
B) $500
C) $620
D) $380

9. On that same trade — one 5-point-wide credit spread sold for $1.20 — what is your maximum profit?

A) $120, the credit you collected, if the spread expires worthless
B) $380, if the underlying moves far enough
C) $500, the full width of the spread
D) There is no maximum; profit grows with the move

10. You buy one debit spread for $1.60. What is your maximum loss?

A) $500, the width, no matter what you paid
B) $160 — a debit spread can never lose more than the debit you paid
C) $340, the width minus the debit
D) Unlimited if the underlying gaps

11. That debit spread is 5 points wide and you paid $1.60. What is your maximum profit?

A) $160
B) $500
C) $340 — the width minus the debit
D) $660 — the width plus the debit

12. You sell an iron condor and collect a total credit of $2.00 per condor. What is your maximum profit on one condor?

A) $300
B) $500
C) Unlimited if the market stays quiet for weeks
D) $200 — the credit received, if the underlying stays between the short strikes and everything expires worthless

13. That iron condor has 5-point-wide wings on each side and you collected $2.00. What is your maximum loss on one condor?

A) $300 — the wing width minus the credit, times 100
B) $200 — the credit is all you can lose
C) $500 — the full wing width
D) $700 — the wing width plus the credit, times 100

14. You buy a 0DTE put with a 5,900 strike for $12.00. What is your breakeven at expiration?

A) 5,912 — the strike plus the premium
B) 5,888 — the strike minus the premium
C) 5,900 — the strike itself
D) 5,876 — the strike minus twice the premium

15. Why do traders treat the 8:30 AM ET data releases (such as CPI and the jobs report) as a special danger zone for 0DTE positions?

A) Volume is lowest then, so nothing can happen
B) Options cannot be traded until 9:30, so the risk is only theoretical
C) A surprise number can spike the index dozens of points in minutes, and a same-day option on the wrong side can be destroyed before there is time to react
D) The releases only affect bonds, never index options

16. At what time ET does the Federal Reserve typically release its FOMC statement on a meeting day?

A) 8:30 AM
B) 9:30 AM, at the open
C) 12:00 PM, at midday
D) 2:00 PM

17. What usually defines the midday dead zone for 0DTE trading?

A) Volume dries up, the index chops sideways in a narrow range, and time decay quietly bleeds bought premium — often the best trade is no trade
B) The biggest directional moves of the day happen there
C) Spreads tighten to zero and options become risk-free
D) Gamma disappears, so premiums stop moving

18. What makes the final hour of a 0DTE session uniquely dangerous?

A) The exchanges stop accepting closing orders
B) Gamma peaks and premiums can double or vanish on small moves, and price can pin near a heavily traded strike into the close, trapping anyone still holding and hoping
C) Theta stops working, so losing positions recover on their own
D) Only institutional traders are allowed to trade it

19. The market is chopping in a 10-point range, it is 12:30 PM, you have no setup from your plan, and you feel the urge to "do something." What does the playbook say?

A) Buy something cheap — cheap premium is always worth a shot
B) Double your size so a small move still pays
C) Sell an undefined-risk spread to collect the decay
D) Sit out. No edge means no trade; most of the 0DTE day is waiting, and forcing trades in the dead zone is how premium buyers bleed out

20. How should the daily maximum loss for a 0DTE trader be set?

A) It is whatever loss makes you stop emotionally
B) You decide it after the second losing trade, based on how the day feels
C) As a fixed dollar amount written down before the open — and when the account hits it, trading is over for the day, no exceptions
D) As a percentage of whatever you made yesterday

21. One of the 0DTE risk commandments covers averaging down. What does it say?

A) Never add to a losing expiring contract — it is a melting asset with hours to live, not an investment that deserves more capital
B) Averaging down is fine if the premium got 50% cheaper
C) Add once, but only in the final hour
D) Averaging down works because expiration forces a bounce

22. What is a hard exit time in a 0DTE plan?

A) The time your broker picks to close your positions
B) A time you set in advance — a position still open at that time gets closed at the market, not held on hope into the most violent part of the day
C) The moment a trade reaches breakeven
D) 4:00 PM exactly, for every trader and every trade

23. How should a 0DTE trader size a credit or debit spread position?

A) By how much premium they want to collect
B) By how many contracts the account balance can technically afford
C) By the premium price alone — cheaper is always safer
D) By the maximum loss in dollars: contracts = the dollars you are willing to risk divided by the max loss per spread

24. You hit your daily maximum loss at 11:00 AM. A setup you like appears at 11:20. What do the commandments say?

A) Take it — the daily cap resets when a good setup appears
B) Take it at half size, since the setup is high quality
C) You are done for the day. The cap exists precisely for this moment; trading past it is revenge trading, and the platform stays closed
D) Switch to a different index product and keep trading there

25. Why do the commandments demand a smaller per-trade risk and a cap on the number of trades for 0DTE, compared with slower trading?

A) Because trades come faster, decay punishes hesitation, and ten small emotional decisions in one morning can compound into a day that breaks the account — small size and a trade cap keep any single day survivable
B) Because brokers charge more per 0DTE trade
C) Because the exchange limits how much profit one trader can make per day
D) Because 0DTE options are cheaper, so the risk is automatically the same

26. Which list belongs in a complete 0DTE pre-market prep?

A) Yesterday's P&L and a prediction for today's close
B) Today's catalysts and their release times, the expected move, key levels from the prior session, and your daily maximum loss written down
C) A watchlist of twenty tickers and their earnings dates
D) Social media sentiment and the most popular trade in the chat room

27. What must be true before you enter any 0DTE trade, according to the playbook?

A) Another trader in the community has confirmed the idea
B) The premium has already started moving in your direction
C) You feel confident about the direction of the next hour
D) The structure is chosen, the maximum loss is known in dollars, and the exit rules — profit target, stop, and time stop — are set before entry, not invented during the trade

28. Which set of exit rules matches the playbook's way of managing a 0DTE position?

A) Hold every trade to expiration and let the outcome decide
B) Exit only when the premium reaches zero or doubles — nothing in between
C) Pre-set exits: scale out at defined profit levels, stop out on a premium-percentage loss or an underlying level, and close by your time stop — decided calmly in advance, executed without renegotiation
D) Decide exits after lunch, once you see how the day feels

29. Which fields belong in a 0DTE trade journal entry?

A) The structure traded, entry and exit times, the maximum loss you allowed, and whether you followed your rules — yes or no
B) Only the profit or loss in dollars
C) The name of the trader you copied the idea from
D) A screenshot of the chart and nothing else

30. In the playbook's model day, the trader refuses a tempting setup in the midday chop and ends the day flat by the close. Why was refusing the trade correct?

A) Midday trades are against exchange rules for retail traders
B) The setup was outside the written plan and inside the dead zone where decay works against the buyer — the win was protecting the morning's result and the account, and there is always another session tomorrow
C) The trader was out of buying power
D) Refusing trades is always correct, in every session and every condition

Scoring Yourself

Count your correct answers using the separate answer key. 24 or more correct (80%) is a pass. Below 24, the key points you to the exact module behind every miss — re-study those modules, redo their Check Yourself questions, and retake this exam before you trade 0DTE with real money.