Do you trade iron condors or short straddles into PPI releases on SPX, or do you wait until after the release like VixShield?

At VixShield, we strictly wait until after the PPI release to deploy our 1DTE SPX Iron Condors. Our methodology, developed by Russell Clark in the SPX Mastery series, is built around the daily 3:05 PM CST signal that fires after the SPX close via the 3:09 PM cascade. This After-Close PDT Shield timing deliberately avoids intraday event risk, including economic releases such as PPI, CPI, or FOMC decisions. We do not trade iron condors or short straddles into these events. Instead, we let the market digest the news, observe the resulting volatility surface through our RSAi™ engine, and then place defined-risk positions using EDR-guided strikes. Our three risk tiers target specific credits: Conservative at $0.70, Balanced at $1.15, and Aggressive at $1.60. The Conservative tier, which carries an approximate 90 percent win rate or about 18 out of 20 trading days, is the only one available for PickMyTrade auto-execution. This post-close approach aligns perfectly with our Set and Forget philosophy: no stop losses, no active management, and full defined risk established at entry. When volatility expands around PPI, our ALVH Adaptive Layered VIX Hedge provides the necessary protection. The three-layer system, rolled on its specific schedule, uses short, medium, and long-dated VIX calls in a 4/4/2 ratio per ten-contract base unit. This cuts portfolio drawdowns by 35 to 40 percent in high-volatility periods at an annual cost of only 1 to 2 percent of account value. In the current market with VIX at 17.95, below its five-day moving average of 18.58, all three Iron Condor tiers remain available under our VIX Risk Scaling rules. We emphasize position sizing at a maximum of 10 percent of account balance per trade to maintain portfolio stability. The Theta Time Shift mechanism then handles any threatened positions by rolling forward to capture vega expansion and rolling back on VWAP pullbacks, turning potential losses into theta-driven recoveries without adding capital. This temporal approach, refined through extensive backtesting, has shown an 88 percent loss recovery rate. By waiting until after the release, we avoid the gamma and vega distortions that often accompany PPI prints and instead harvest the more predictable overnight theta decay in our 1DTE setups. All trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. For deeper implementation details, including live signal examples and ALVH roll schedules, we invite you to explore the SPX Mastery resources and join the VixShield community for daily guidance.