Moneyness — whether an option is in-, at-, or out-of-the-money — is measured against the current price of SPY. Since SPY moves constantly, moneyness is not a fixed label on your option; it's a moving state, and it changes how the contract behaves during a single scalp.
How the behavior shifts
Say you buy an at-the-money call. If SPY rallies, the option moves in-the-money: its delta climbs toward 1.0 (it tracks SPY more closely), and its gamma falls (the whip settles down). If SPY drops instead, the option slides out-of-the-money: delta fades, gamma falls off on the other side, and it becomes less responsive. The same contract behaves like a different instrument depending on where price has drifted relative to the strike.
Why it matters mid-scalp
A winning scalp is one where your option went in-the-money — which is exactly when its delta is highest and it's capturing the most of each additional SPY dollar. A losing one drifts out-of-the-money, where a smaller delta means it barely recovers even if SPY bounces a little. The greeks that defined your entry aren't the greeks managing your exit; they've moved with the price.
You don't hold a fixed option — you hold a position whose delta, gamma and theta are quietly rewritten every time SPY moves.
Managing it
This is why exits should key off levels and the current option behavior, not the entry snapshot. As a winner goes deeper ITM, delta rises and it's worth trailing a stop to protect the now-larger gain; as a trade drifts OTM, be honest that recovery needs a bigger move than before. It's also why picking the entry strike by delta matters — you're choosing where on this shifting spectrum you start. NoVo's exit ladder manages to the live position, not the entry, for exactly this reason.