How Strike works

01Start here

Three things to know before anything else:

• No sign-up, no wallet to connect. Your browser makes a Robinhood Chain wallet for you the first time you visit. Send a little ETH and the coin you want to use to that address and you are ready.
• Everything is paid in ETH on Robinhood Chain. Premiums, strike payments and gas. No other currency is involved.
• Nothing is borrowed. Every contract is backed 100% by coins that are already locked up. There is no leverage and nobody can get liquidated.

If you want to earn from coins you hold, go to Write a call. If you want to bet on a coin going up with limited downside, go to Trade a call.

02What a call is

A call is a deal between two people:

• The writer owns the coin. They lock it up and say: "Until this time, you may buy my coins at this price."
• The buyer pays the writer a fee up front, called the premium, to hold that right.

The words you will see everywhere:

• Strike — the fixed price the buyer may buy at, per coin, in ETH.
• Expiry — the deadline. After it, the deal is over.
• Premium — the fee the buyer pays the writer. The writer keeps it no matter what happens next.
• Exercise — when the buyer actually uses the right: pays strike × quantity and receives the coins.

"Covered" simply means the writer's coins are already locked in escrow, so if the buyer exercises, the coins are guaranteed to be there. That is why Strike needs no oracle and no margin.

03A worked example

Say a coin called PONSCAT trades at 0.0000010 ETH. Ana holds 1,000,000 of them. Ben thinks it will pump.

1. Ana writes a call. She locks 1,000,000 PONSCAT, sets the strike at 0.0000015 ETH (50% above today), expiry in 24 hours, and asks a premium of 0.05 ETH.
2. Ben buys it. He pays 0.05 ETH. Ana receives it immediately. Ben now holds the right, for 24 hours, to buy her 1,000,000 PONSCAT for 1.5 ETH total (0.0000015 × 1,000,000).
3. If PONSCAT pumps to 0.0000030 ETH, Ben exercises: he pays 1.5 ETH, gets coins worth 3.0 ETH. His profit is 3.0 − 1.5 − 0.05 = 1.45 ETH. Ana gets 1.5 ETH for coins she was happy to sell at that price, plus the 0.05 ETH premium she already had.
4. If PONSCAT stays flat or dumps, Ben does nothing and the call expires. He loses the 0.05 ETH premium and nothing more. Ana's 1,000,000 PONSCAT come straight back to her automatically, and she keeps the 0.05 ETH.

Two numbers the app shows you so you never have to work this out yourself:

• Breakeven — the price the coin must pass for the buyer to profit. Here: 0.0000015 + 0.05 ÷ 1,000,000 = 0.00000155 ETH.
• Premium yield — what the writer earns compared to the value they locked. Here: 0.05 ÷ (0.0000010 × 1,000,000) = 5% for one day.

04Which coins work

Only coins launched on Pons (Robinhood Chain) and paired with ETH. Before any coin is accepted, the server asks the Pons factory contract directly whether it launched that address. If the factory does not know it, the coin is refused — no matter what a token list says.

• Bonding and graduated coins both work. A coin still on its bonding curve and a coin that has graduated to Uniswap are equally fine. A badge on the trade page tells you which it is.
• ETH-paired only. Strikes and premiums are in ETH, so a coin paired with USDC or anything else cannot be priced or settled. The app says so and stops.

This check runs again on the server when you deposit collateral, so it cannot be skipped from the UI.

05Life of a contract

1. Open — a writer locked coins and set terms. Anyone can buy it. The writer can still cancel and get the coins back.
2. Active — someone paid the premium. The call now belongs to that buyer. The writer can no longer cancel.
3. Exercised — the buyer paid the strike before expiry. Coins went to the buyer, strike payment went to the writer. Done.
4. Expired — the deadline passed without exercise. Coins went back to the writer automatically. Done.
5. Cancelled — an open call nobody bought was withdrawn by the writer. Coins went back. Done.

Expiry can be anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 days. The minimum premium is 0.0001 ETH. Every contract page keeps a log of each step with its Robinhood Chain transaction hash.

06Your Strike wallet

Your wallet is the button in the top-right corner. It was created in this browser and the secret key never leaves it. Strike cannot see it and cannot recover it.

• Fund it by sending ETH (for gas and anything you pay) and the Pons coins you want to write calls on to the address shown. Balances update by themselves.
• Back it up. Open the wallet drawer and export the key before you send anything you would miss. Clearing site data deletes the wallet.
• Move it. Import that same key on another device and your positions follow you.

07Where the money goes

Contracts settle through the Strike treasury wallet on Robinhood Chain. The pattern is always the same: you send a deposit, the server confirms it on chain, then the treasury sends whatever is owed.

Safety checks that run every time:

• Your deposit must be a confirmed transaction from your wallet for the exact amount. One transaction can pay for one thing, once.
• The terms you chose are signed by your wallet and tied to that deposit, so nobody can swap in a different strike or premium.
• Payouts are queued the instant your action is confirmed and retried until they land. The worker runs after every action, whenever you open your portfolio, and every minute on a schedule.

Honest caveat: while a contract is live, the treasury holds the coins. You are trusting Strike to run that wallet correctly. A trustless escrow contract is the next step.

08Prices & charts

• Bonding coins — the price is read straight from the Pons bonding-curve contract and refreshes every ten seconds. The chart is built from the curve's own buy and sell events, with every live strike drawn across it.
• Graduated coins — the price, liquidity, volume and trade counts come from the Uniswap pool via DexScreener, and the chart is the live DexScreener chart for that pool. Strike levels are listed under it.

Prices are for information only. Settlement never looks at them: exercising is always "pay the strike, get the coins" at the terms fixed when the call was written. That is why there is no oracle to trust or to break.

09Risks, plainly

• These coins move fast. 50% in an hour is normal. Writers: only write if you are genuinely happy to sell at the strike. Buyers: a call can go from worthless to deep in profit and back before expiry.
• Thin markets. Many pools hold under $15k. The app flags this. A small trade can move the price, so do not treat the ITM/OTM chips as precise.
• The premium is spent. If you buy a call and never exercise, the premium is gone. You cannot resell a call yet.
• Expiry is exact. After the deadline, the buyer can do nothing. Set a reminder.
• Custody. Locked coins and in-flight ETH sit in the treasury until paid out.
• Your key is in your browser. Export it, and do not keep more in the wallet than you are actively using.

10FAQ

Is there a fee?

No protocol fee. The premium and the strike go entirely to the writer. You only pay gas on your own deposits, which is a fraction of a cent on Robinhood Chain.

Can I use a coin that is not from Pons?

No. The factory check happens on the server against chain data.

Can I sell a call after I buy it?

Not yet. You can exercise it or let it expire.

What if the coin graduates while my call is open?

Nothing changes for the contract. Only the chart and price source switch from the curve to the Uniswap pool.

How quickly do I get paid?

Usually under a minute.

What happens if I close the tab?

Nothing. Expiry refunds and payouts happen on the server whether or not you are online.

Ready? Browse the board or write your first call.