New SPY options traders tend to make the same handful of mistakes in their first week. Here's the list — and how to avoid each — because seeing them coming is half the battle (see also common 0DTE mistakes for the deeper version).

The classic first-week mistakes

1. Oversizing — trading too many contracts for the account, so a normal loss hurts badly. Fix: one contract. 2. Buying far-OTM lottos — chasing cheap jackpots that expire worthless. Fix: responsive strikes. 3. No stop — entering with no exit plan and hoping. Fix: define a stop first. 4. Overtrading — taking every wiggle, especially in chop. Fix: selectivity.

The emotional ones

5. Revenge trading — forcing trades to “get back” a loss. 6. Moving stops — widening the stop to avoid taking the loss. 7. Not respecting decay — holding a losing 0DTE hoping it comes back while theta eats it. 8. Trading for excitement — treating it as a thrill, not a disciplined process. These are the mistakes that turn a learning week into an expensive one, and they're all about psychology, not knowledge.

The first-week killers aren't complicated — they're oversizing, lottos, no stop, and emotion. Everyone's warned about them; almost everyone does them anyway. Being the exception is the edge.

The quick takeaway

Week-one mistakes cluster around size, strike choice, stops, and emotion — trade one contract, use responsive strikes, always have a stop, and stay disciplined. Prioritize not blowing up over winning. NoVo structurally prevents several of these — it sizes to your risk, attaches a stop, and favors sensible strikes — but the emotional ones stay your responsibility.