Educational only, not financial advice or a strategy recommendation. Options strategies carry risk, including of substantial loss. NoVo maps dealer positioning; the strategies here are explained for understanding, not endorsed.
A 0DTE long straddle buys an at-the-money call and put — a defined-risk bet that SPY makes a big move in either direction, profiting from volatility rather than direction. It’s the long-premium mirror of the short straddle.
How it works
Buy both an ATM call and ATM put. If SPY makes a large move up or down, one leg gains more than both cost, and you profit. Your max loss is the total premium (defined), realized if SPY sits still. It’s a bet on a big move / rising volatility, direction unknown — useful around a catalyst you expect to move the market.
The 0DTE challenge
The problem: you pay for two options and face brutal 0DTE decay on both, so you need a large move just to overcome the combined premium and time decay. Buying a straddle right before a catalyst also means paying inflated pre-event IV that crushes after — a double drag. Long straddles on 0DTE need a genuinely big, fast move to win.
A long straddle wins on a big move either way — but on 0DTE you’re paying double premium and fighting double decay, so “big” has to be really big.
How the dealer map frames it
A straddle buys its way out of having a directional read — and pays double premium and double decay for the privilege. The dealer map attacks the same problem from the other end: expected move tells you how far the session is priced to travel, and the distance to the nearest wall tells you whether there is room to travel it. If the map says the tape is pinned between two walls, a straddle is paying twice for a move the structure is fighting.