CCS
CENTURY COMMUNITIES, INC.
stock NYSE

Looks like my MU CCS will pay off nicely today. Probably a good chance to open another one today based on what’s going down although I think there’s still a decent chance for a rebound by Friday so I might wait to open another spread, or maybe open a diagonal and try to just capture IV as much as possible.
Based on sentiment in here I guess most people are pretty long on memory, since indexes are basically flat? I don’t see anything in my portfolio to panic about.
I guess my 401k is down quite a bit, presumably from memory. But nothing I can do about that.

I am a 0DTE credit spread trader with a focus on SPX.
Positions traded:
* 7375/7355 PCS
* 7380/7360 PCS
* 7490/7510 CCS
P/L: **+$425**
[SPX 5-min chart, July 28, 2026](https://preview.redd.it/hwnp6codg1gh1.png?width=1612&format=png&auto=webp&s=dc65621ee0ee6cbebbffba265d5fc287254ff4cd)
Once the trades were working, my job stopped being finding more profit and became protecting the profit already there.
I entered the session cautiously bearish, but I was not committed to forcing that thesis if the market showed something different. SPX initially chopped before breaking above the opening range with momentum following a positive Iran peace-talk headline.
Instead of immediately chasing the move, I waited for price to break and hold yesterday’s resistance. That confirmation gave me the structure to open the 7375/7355 PCS anchor at $.50, followed by a smaller 7380/7360 PCS at $.25 as SPX extended higher.
Around 10:00 a.m. PT, the morning push rejected near an area that had previously acted as support and resistance. I used that rejection to open a small 7490/7510 CCS anchor.
Nothing else was needed. Price remained clear of my strikes, and I let theta finish the job while every spread expired safely for full profit.
# Key Takeaway
Boring sessions can make it tempting to add trades just to increase the final number. Staying disciplined and accepting a lower maintenance day kept a profitable day profitable.
*If anyone has any questions on specifics, I'm happy to answer them!*

I could have bought a put, but that would require me to be more precise about both the direction and timing of the move. With the CCS, SPX could move down, stay sideways, or even move somewhat against me and I could still profit as long as it stayed below my short strike. I’m giving up the larger upside a put could offer in exchange for more room to be imperfect and time decay generally working in my favor

I wanted to give a detailed, real-world example of how I trade the key levels I mark on my charts.
Most of my setups come down to two things: watching for breaks out of ranges/consolidation, and then seeing how SPX actually reacts when it reaches an important level.
For this example, I’m using **SPX on June 24, 2026**.
It was a pretty frustrating day for most of the traders I talk with. A few got chopped up trying to scalp the early moves. I ended the day green with one trade, but it’s also worth mentioning that only two of the five trade credit spreads like I do. The others primarily trade long calls and puts.
That difference matters because I’m not necessarily trying to predict the exact next move. I’m usually trying to identify where I **don’t think price is going to go**.
# The Prep Work
Before every trading day, I mark levels from the previous session:
* Previous day high and low
* Obvious support/resistance zones
* Important weekly/monthly/yearly levels
* Occasionally prominent GEX levels, although I rely on these less than I used to
I treat all of these as **zones**, not exact lines.
I also review recent macro events, upcoming economic releases, Fed speakers, geopolitical headlines, etc. That gives me some context going into the next session, but I still want price action to confirm whatever bias I might have.
[SPX 5-min chart, prior day, July 23, 2026 — key levels marked](https://preview.redd.it/mgelj2r67vfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=78d9e5dcf3c5f30f02b5f5af0e5c8dddc98e6ff1)
# Seeing the Flop
Every morning, I generally let the first **15 minutes** play out before doing anything.
I jokingly call this **“seeing the flop,”** like Texas hold’em.
That opening period gives me an initial range. I’ll usually mark the high and low and start watching how SPX behaves inside it.
I ***rarely*** trade during this window unless there’s a very obvious catalyst producing strong directional momentum.
If I don’t like what I’m seeing, I wait.
Usually in another 15-minute increment.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — 15 minutes after open](https://preview.redd.it/wqug6go08vfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=49e1720845063f54e3bf1c1be467d586d6f9595d)
Another 15 minutes passed on this particular day, and SPX was still chopping around.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — 30 minutes after open \(opening range highlighted in Orange\)](https://preview.redd.it/15gcmsf88vfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=156f36c2d9bc4ee39efc8dc0b161ba4f93989b74)
Then another...
SPX ended up moving sideways from roughly **6:30 AM until 7:45 AM PT**.
At that point my thought process was pretty simple:
**Buyers and sellers are battling around the open, there’s no clean direction, and I don’t have an edge yet.**
***So there’s no trade.***
I’m waiting for price to break one side of the range, but more importantly, I’m looking at how SPX reacts when it reaches nearby levels.
On this day I was especially watching the previous day’s high and low, along with a few other nearby areas of prior support and resistance.
Again, these are **zones**, not hard lines where price magically has to reverse.
# Then We Finally Get a Break
Eventually SPX made a meaningful push to the upside.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — 5-min breakout of opening range](https://preview.redd.it/ugisgoks8vfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=ab76cddbf2a7b03e05776d1db3a568fc9d74f514)
At first glance, it looked bullish.
We broke out of the morning range, pushed through resistance, and printed some large green candles.
It would have been easy to think:
>*“There it is. Breakout confirmed. We’re going higher.”*
The next few minutes made that argument look even stronger.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — Push up to key level](https://preview.redd.it/n0i6p8g49vfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=c6325214344d66b3bda561d52f452479651fe25d)
Some of the traders I talk with started chasing the move.
I was looking at it differently.
Those big green candles were running directly into one of the major levels I had marked beforehand: **the previous day’s high**, which had also been an important area on several occasions the week before.
The candles were bullish, but they were also developing noticeable upper wicks.
So instead of chasing the breakout, I wanted to see what happened **at the level**.
That distinction is a huge part of how I trade.
A breakout tells me price moved.
The **reaction afterward** tells me whether I actually want to trade it.
# First Rejection
The next five-minute candle gave us a small rejection.
Nothing conclusive.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — 5-min rejection](https://preview.redd.it/0vcf44sw9vfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=f083faa6c4c3c3f64389093148e4e84ca1316cf9)
The following five-minute candle continued the rejection.
Stronger this time, but I still didn’t have enough confirmation to put a trade on.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — 5-min continued rejection](https://preview.redd.it/zy6bx4f0avfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=00efc19be90a4d3d9583eeb8fbdd0ddc0423ee10)
***So what exactly am I waiting for here?***
I want to know whether SPX can:
1. Break and hold above the previous day’s high, or
2. Fail that breakout and then break the structure that supported the move higher
In this case, I was watching roughly the **7405–7390 area** underneath price.
If SPX lost that structure and followed through, especially after repeatedly failing at the previous day’s high, I’d have a much better bearish setup.
Ideally, I also like seeing some form of retest after the break.
# Another Attempt… Another Rejection
SPX tried to reclaim the previous day’s high again.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — 5-min rejection, again](https://preview.redd.it/rpa7g4jeavfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f0f92d9882be7acb7dad91aac9fd3eeb51dee8a)
And rejected again.
Meanwhile, I’m still sitting on my hands.
That’s probably the least exciting part of this entire strategy, but it’s also one of the most important.
I don’t need to be in a trade just because the market is open.
I’d rather let other people fight over the middle of the move and wait until price gives me something I actually recognize.
# Finally, the Setup
At around **9:45 AM PT**, SPX failed harder and broke the structure underneath the attempted breakout.
This time, we finally got some meaningful movement and follow-through.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — break and hold of structure](https://preview.redd.it/duuqdtqqavfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=99c286c34899097d089763c0c58ec69cf6be8881)
That was my first — and ultimately only — trade of the day.
I went to the options chain and built my usual **$20-wide SPX credit spread**.
Because the failed structure was above price, I wanted my short strike comfortably beyond it.
I was targeting a short strike at least around 10 points above the failed structure while also taking the day’s IV and available premium into consideration.
I sold:
**7440/7460 CCS for $0.65 credit — 10 contracts**
At the same time, I placed my stop/invalidation line on the chart just above the structure SPX had broken.
That means before I even entered the trade, I already knew:
* What I was getting paid
* Where my short strike was
* What price action would prove my idea wrong
* Where I would close the spread if SPX reclaimed and held above that structure
That last part is extremely important to me.
I don’t want to figure out where I’m wrong **after** the trade starts moving against me.
I want to know before I click submit.
# The Move Lower
SPX continued selling off afterward.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — continued selloff](https://preview.redd.it/bzq7d7bbbvfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=e29f53bb13d30bbb2a924b19b55a4fcdad370e12)
The temptation here is to think:
>*“I nailed the direction. Let me put another trade on.”*
I try not to look at it that way.
To me, the move lower was simply confirmation that the setup I had already taken was working.
I had my position.
My short strike was comfortably away from price.
Now I could let time and theta do some of the work instead of getting greedy and chasing the next move.
SPX was also approaching another key level: **the previous day’s low**.
That made me even less interested in initiating a new bearish position directly into support.
# Why I Didn’t Take Another Trade
SPX eventually stalled around the previous day’s low and couldn’t produce a meaningful break.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — price stalled](https://preview.redd.it/hxeua5evbvfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=b6e50975df47268809bf5b12ee9242070302b767)
By this point, the clock also mattered.
With 0DTE credit spreads, the later it gets, the harder it becomes for me to stay far enough away from price while still collecting premium that I feel justifies the gamma risk.
If there had been more time left in the session, I might have considered another setup.
What would I have wanted?
Basically the same process again.
A meaningful break of the previous day’s low, followed by a hold/retest and continuation — or a strong rejection back above it.
We never really got either one cleanly.
So I did nothing.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — price stalled, again](https://preview.redd.it/dvkbr241cvfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=ca6220e5e65876ba917a388794683bb7ed545af2)
SPX tested the area again but failed to produce anything that interested me.
Meanwhile, my stop was nowhere close to being threatened.
I eventually bought back the **7440/7460 CCS for $0.10**.
Entry credit: **$0.65**
Exit: **$0.10**
Profit: **+$550**
One trade for the day.
[SPX 5-min chart, June 24, 2026 — end of day, closing price](https://preview.redd.it/lqp4ogdacvfh1.png?width=1571&format=png&auto=webp&s=0982a84cd518af5e1a830626f1dbc4f29047d3df)
# The Main Point
This is basically how I think about key levels.
I’m not blindly buying support or shorting resistance.
I mark important areas beforehand, let price reach them, and then watch what happens.
*Does price break through?*
*Can it hold?*
*Does it retest?*
*Does the breakout fail?*
*Does structure underneath the move break?*
And most importantly: ***where does my idea become invalid?***
On this day, SPX spent hours doing absolutely nothing useful for me.
Then it broke out.
Then that breakout failed.
Then structure broke.
**That was the trade.**
Everything before it was information.
Everything after it was management.
Hopefully this gives a better idea of how I trade SPX credit spreads, how I use key levels, ***why I spend so much time waiting***, and how I determine both my strike placement and invalidation before entering.
Happy to answer questions about any specific parts of the setup!

I'm a 0DTE credit spread trader with a focus on SPX.
Positions traded:
* 7380/7360 PCS
* 7440/7460 CCS
* 7475/7495 CCS
* 7490/7510 CCS
P/L: **+$565**
[SPX 5-min chart, July 27, 2026](https://preview.redd.it/ca1zlf666ufh1.png?width=1612&format=png&auto=webp&s=ae120220d489a06b2e5008409586345bb226a6dc)
The market doesn’t owe me trades. Once my best setups were on, the hardest part of today was simply leaving them alone.
I developed a bearish intraday bias after the China DUV headline and waited for SPX to confirm it rather than immediately trading the news.
The morning breakdown gave me that confirmation. SPX pushed through Friday’s key levels and weekly support with momentum, so I opened my first 7490/7510 CCS anchor.
What gave me more conviction was the reversal attempt afterward. Price pushed back up but rejected former support as resistance, so I scaled into the 7475/7495 CCS rather than chasing additional downside.
After that, there really wasn’t much to do.
The Iran peace-talk headlines created a brief spike that gave me a small 7440/7460 CCS scalp. Most of midday was simply letting theta work while my anchors remained comfortably above price.
By the afternoon, SPX had settled into a range. I found one 7380/7360 PCS scalp, took the $30, and left the rest alone.
That was basically the day.
# Key Takeaway
Low-opportunity sessions are where the temptation to place unnecessary trades starts creeping in. Today was a good reminder that once the market has given me what I came for, doing nothing can be part of the trade.

Not MEIC. I trade individual PCS/CCS based on price action and levels. I’ll sometimes leg into an iron condor later, but I’m not systematically entering multiple condors throughout the day