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# Day Trading Options for Beginners: Calls, Puts and 0DTE Explained
- URL: https://www.daytraderincome.com/day-trading-options-for-beginners/
- Published: 2026-10-28T05:33:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-31T23:10:27.000Z
- Description: How options work for a beginner who wants to day trade them: calls, puts, the 100-share multiplier, same-day 0DTE options, what it costs, and the mistakes that empty accounts.
- Author: Indy Karveli
- Tags: Markets

**Short answer:** buying an option is a bet on direction with a built-in time limit. A **call** gains when the stock goes up, a **put** when it goes down. When you buy, the most you can lose is what you paid. Day traders like options because a small amount of money controls a big move, and the same thing is why beginners lose money fast.

## The basics in one minute

- **One contract = 100 shares.** An option quoted at $1.50 costs $150.
- **Strike:** the price the option is tied to. **Expiration:** the date it stops existing.
- **Premium** is what you pay. Part of it is the move you expect; part is time, and time melts every minute.
- **0DTE** means "zero days to expiration": options that expire today. SPY and the big index ETFs have them every trading day. They move fastest and they can go to zero by the close.

## What you need

- A broker that approves you for options. Buying calls and puts is usually the first approval level.
- A cash account works for buying options. The old $25,000 day-trading rule is being replaced (approved April 2026, with brokers switching through October 2027); ask your broker what applies.
- Cost per contract varies: $0 at Webull and Robinhood, $0.65 at Fidelity and Schwab, plus small regulatory fees. See [trading platforms for beginners](https://www.daytraderincome.com/best-trading-platforms-for-beginners/).

## Plan it like any other trade

Pick your entry and stop on the **stock's chart**, not the option's. The option follows the stock. Then size from what you'd lose:

- You buy 2 calls at $1.50 = $300 at risk if they go to zero.
- If your stop on the stock would cut that to a $0.90 option price, your planned loss is 2 × ($1.50 − $0.90) × 100 = **$120**.
- Same number of contracts every trade, so your log means something.

## Five mistakes that empty beginner accounts

1. **Buying far out-of-the-money because it's cheap.** Cheap options are cheap because they usually expire worthless.
2. **Holding a 0DTE loser "for the bounce."** Time decay doesn't wait.
3. **Doubling contracts after a loss.** Same size, every trade.
4. **Trading the open without a plan.** Spreads are widest and moves are fastest in the first minutes.
5. **Selling options before you understand them.** Selling can lose far more than you collected. Start with buying.

## Practice first, for free

[TradingView](https://www.tradingview.com/?aff%5Fid=1173482&ref=daytraderincome.com) (affiliate link) lets you chart SPY and the stocks you'd trade, and paper trade the underlying stock on the free plan. Mark your entry and stop on the chart for 20 sessions before you buy a single contract. My free course, [the Paper Route](https://www.daytraderincome.com/paper-route/), covers the routine.

*Education only, not investment advice. Options involve substantial risk and are not suitable for every investor. Read the Options Disclosure Document (Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options) before trading options. Most people who day trade lose money.*