‘Degenerate Gambling’ in Zero-Day Options Thrills Retail Traders

They’ve become a high-speed, high-risk, high-reward tool in turbulent markets: Options with shelf lives so short they expire in less than a day.

For big investors, these derivatives — “zero-day-to-expiry” options, or 0DTE for short — offer a way to hedge short-term risk in an era when the market flip-flops daily. That’s in theory. In practice, success is far from certain, and even some Wall Street pros don’t fully understand them.

Read more: What Are Zero-Day Stock Options? Why Do They Matter?

That hasn’t deterred thrill-seeking retail investors from piling into 0DTE options. These traders know the risks. They’ve seen ...