RJ Hamster
“I was there for the birth of zero DTE”
December 24, 2025 | Read Online
In 2003, I was sitting in a boardroom at the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
Running a slideshow for Tom Sosnoff and Scott Sheridan.
The who’s who of trading was on that board. Literally the who’s who.
Tom was presenting this wild idea: weekly option expirations that would eventually become daily.
“We’re gonna launch it in SPX… then go to three times a week… then daily expiration.”
Except Tom didn’t call them “weeklies.”
He wanted to call them “quickies.”
I have never seen anything fall as flat as that joke did.
The head of marketing said right to his face: “Brilliant idea. Dumbest name we’ve ever heard.”
They bought the framework anyway.
Fast forward 20+ years: We just witnessed $7.1 trillion expire in a single quarterly expiration. The European Central Bank is now studying 0DTE for systemic risk implications.
Zero DTE represents 60%+ of SPX volume. $1+ trillion in daily notional flow.
The cart isn’t just leading the horse anymore — options positioning now drives underlying price movement instead of the reverse.
Markets don’t pause for holidays. And I lived through this entire transformation.
Employee #13 at Thinkorswim. Ran education for 768 people at TD Ameritrade.
On Tuesday, I spent 60+ minutes explaining what’s really changed and how to adapt.
Watch me break down the new market structure
Because the market you learned on doesn’t exist anymore.
The one that’ll be running in 2026 requires completely different rules.
To your success,
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