The 0DTE Command scanner is a different engine from SPX Slayer. While Slayer trades one instrument (SPX/SPXW) through a single play lifecycle, 0DTE Command hunts the entire tape all session — SPY, QQQ, NVDA, any name where the flow, structure, and positioning line up for a same-day expiration trade. It lives on the right side of the Night Hawk page and runs continuously from the pre-market warm through the close.
Session heat: the desk follows the clock
The scanner adapts its intensity to where the session stands. Seven session heat states control how aggressively it scans and whether it will commit new plays:
| State | Window (ET) | Heat | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRE_MARKET | Before 9:30 | 0-40% | Feeds warming, overnight plays confirming |
| OPENING_DRIVE | 9:30-10:00 | 70% | Ranges forming, engines arming — no commits yet |
| RTH | 10:00-14:00 | 100% | Fully hot — directional 0DTE plays fire when gates clear |
| POST_COMMIT | 14:00-15:00 | 70% | No fresh directional commits; manage open risk |
| POWER_HOUR | 15:00-15:30 | 100% | Power-hour engine window |
| LATE_SESSION | 15:30-16:00 | 50% | Winding down, no fresh entries |
| CLOSED | After 16:00 | 0% | Hand off to the Evening Edition |
The heat meter on the header visual reflects this — watch it to know whether the desk is actively committing or just managing existing positions.
Hard entry gates: G-1 through G-14
Every candidate must clear a stack of hard entry gates before it can become a committed play. These are not score adjustments — they are binary pass/fail checks. If any one fails, the candidate surfaces as a SKIP card with the exact reason visible, never silently dropped.
The key gates:
- G-1 (Tape alignment) — the setup's direction must agree with the live SPY tape. Counter-tape entries are the single biggest loser in the historical dataset.
- G-2 (Opening window) — no commits before 10:00 ET. Evidence: a fixed entry at 9:45 ran the worst expectancy of any tested time window. Setups found earlier appear as WATCH cards carrying the unlock time.
- G-3 (Score floor) — the post-adjustment score must clear 65 (the measured viability threshold). The 55-64 band ran 18.8% win rate and -24.5% average return.
- G-4 (VIX threshold) — elevated VIX (17+) demands a higher score floor (75). Extreme VIX (20+) restricts to index/ETF products only. The measured win-rate gap between normal and elevated VIX was 44 percentage points.
- G-5 (Governor) — a concurrency limit prevents the board from overloading with correlated risk.
- G-6 (Cross-system conflict) — blocks a 0DTE setup that directly opposes SPX Slayer's live play or the Night Hawk edition's take on the same ticker.
- G-7 (Macro calendar) — blocks fresh commits when a high-impact macro event (FOMC, CPI, NFP) lands during the session. Iron condor setups are blocked for the full session on a macro day (a release is a condor's worst case).
- G-12 (Confluence floor) — requires at least 2 independent confirmations (see below). The measured expectancy: 0 confirmations ran -12.5%, 1 confirmation broke even, 2 confirmations ran +15.9%.
- G-13 (Accumulation alignment) — multi-day flow accumulation must agree with the setup direction.
- G-14 (Late block) — no new directional entries after 14:00 ET. Evidence: the 14:00-15:30 window ran 14.3% win rate with -19% average P&L. Iron condors are exempt — they benefit from late-session theta.
Every gate failure is logged with a machine-readable code and a human explanation. The SKIP card on the board shows exactly which gates blocked the candidate and why.
The confluence system: independent agreement
The confluence read is the sharpest edge in the 0DTE research. It measures how many independent confirmations agree with the setup's direction:
- Timing — entered inside the favorable post-open, pre-cutoff window
- VWAP side — price is on the trend side of session VWAP for the direction
- Market alignment — setup direction agrees with the live tape
The measured EV ladders with the confirmation count: 0 confirmations = -12.5% EV, 1 = 0%, 2 (VWAP + market) = +15.9% EV with a 41% win rate. This is why G-12 gates on a minimum of 2 confirmations — the zero-confirmation bucket is a money-losing filter the additive score alone could not catch.
Methodology note: These figures are from BlackOut's graded 0DTE ledger (historical forward outcomes on committed plays, mechanical mid-price grading, no transaction-cost adjustment unless noted). Sample size, observation window, and full calculation rules are documented on the public track record and methodology pages — verify there before citing the numbers externally.
Plan rules: fixed risk discipline
Every committed play follows the same mechanical risk rules:
- -50% stop — cut when premium loses half its entry value
- +100% target — take at least a trim when premium doubles
- 15:50 ET time stop — hard exit before the close; 0DTE theta collapse is unforgiving
- 55% chase protection — if the option has already moved 55% from the flag point, the entry is stale
These are rules, not predictions. The system manages to the plan, and the track record grades every play against these exact levels.
Fresh finds: WATCH and SKIP
Candidates that surface from the scanner but have not been committed to the ledger appear as fresh finds:
- WATCH — an uncommitted candidate that is still being evaluated. If it clears all gates on the next scan cycle, it commits.
- SKIP — the scanner found it, evaluated it, and refused it. The card shows the gate code and reason.
A fresh find is never an open position. The distinction between "the scanner sees it" and "the desk committed to it" is fundamental.
Why-now triggers
Each committed play carries a why-now ribbon explaining what put it on the board. The trigger taxonomy, from most specific to most generic:
- accumulation — multi-day stacked flow build (2+ days of consistent directional flow)
- breakout — the breakout discovery rail surfaced it (price structure)
- pin — the gamma-wall pin discovery rail surfaced it (dealer positioning)
- sweep — aggressive swept flow (50%+ of the tape swept at the ask)
- flow_spike — sudden 30-minute flow surge
- aggressor_flow — plain dominant at-the-ask aggressor tape
Every trigger maps to a real, committed signal. When none is present, the ribbon is omitted — never fabricated.
Thesis health: is the trade still alive?
Once a play is committed, the thesis health system monitors whether the original reasons for entry are still intact. It scores 0-100 across 12 weighted pillars: flow, tape, VWAP, market, confluence, cortex, dealer, structure, darkpool, relative volume, momentum, and volatility.
The health degrades through six rungs:
INTACT → MINOR (small erosion) → WEAKENING → DEGRADED → BROKEN → OPPOSITE (evidence has fully reversed)
A thesis-break exit — when the evidence that justified entry actively argues against the position — triggers an immediate unconditional exit, separate from the mechanical stop. The profit ratchet floor only moves up, never down.
How it connects
0DTE Command is the intraday execution layer. The Evening Edition prepares your overnight watchlist. The Cortex evidence system provides the deep multi-source analysis. Vector gives the cross-ticker gamma map. And Largo AI can walk you through any of it — "Why did the scanner skip TSLA at 10:15?" or "What gates are blocking right now?"
For the gamma exposure and flow framework behind the gates and triggers, see the Complete Guide to Dealer Gamma & Options Flow. Get access →
BlackOut provides educational tools and market analysis only and does not provide investment advice. Options and equities trading involve substantial risk and are not suitable for every investor.
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0DTE Command in action — the Night Hawk evening playbook on the BlackOut desk. Open it live →
Originally published on BlackOut Trades — live dealer gamma, 0DTE options flow, and A–F graded SPX setups. Try the free Gamma Snapshot tool →
