# TickerRisk > TickerRisk scores US stocks for catalyst risk: scheduled or public events — earnings > reports, FDA decisions, legal filings, SEC events — that fall inside a specific option > expiry window. It exists so premium sellers can tell the difference between a genuinely > rich option premium and one that is simply pricing in a known upcoming event. The core idea: a fat premium is usually compensation for a scheduled event, not free money. Some screeners flag earnings dates (Barchart, for example, can mark contracts whose earnings fall before expiration). TickerRisk differs in combining five event types — earnings, FDA decisions, legal filings, SEC events and clinical milestones — into a single 0-100 score tied to the expiry window, and filtering candidates on it by default. Risk is horizon-dependent, and this is the point. The same stock can be low risk for a one-week option and high risk for a four-week option that spans an earnings report. Every score is therefore tied to an expiry horizon, never a single standalone number. Example: AAPL scored 51/100 (MEDIUM) over one week and 97/100 (HIGH) over four weeks on the same day, because earnings sat in week three. Scoring bands: 70-100 HIGH, 45-69 MEDIUM, 0-44 LOW. Higher means more scheduled event exposure, not a price prediction. ## Core tools - [Risk scanner](https://tickerrisk.com/): Score any S&P 500 ticker 0-100 for catalyst risk over a chosen expiry window. - [Wheel scanner](https://tickerrisk.com/wheel): Cash-secured put candidates filtered so no earnings, FDA, legal or SEC event lands inside the expiry. - [Cash-secured puts](https://tickerrisk.com/cash-secured-puts): The same engine framed for selling puts to acquire stock at a discount. - [Covered calls](https://tickerrisk.com/covered-calls): Covered-call candidates with income computed from time value only, so in-the-money strikes do not show inflated yields. - [Market scanner](https://tickerrisk.com/scanner): Full S&P 500 table with risk score, IV rank, IV percentile, expected move and option flow. - [Events calendar](https://tickerrisk.com/calendar): Upcoming earnings, ex-dividend dates and clinical milestones, each row carrying the ticker's risk score. - [Risk heat map](https://tickerrisk.com/heatmap): The whole index coloured by risk score, IV rank or price change. ## Per-ticker data - [Ticker risk pages](https://tickerrisk.com/ticker/AAPL): Replace AAPL with any S&P 500 symbol. One page per stock covering the risk score, active catalysts, expected move, current implied volatility and IV rank, and the next earnings date with how close it sits to typical expiries. - [Ticker comparisons](https://tickerrisk.com/compare/AAPL-vs-MSFT): Side-by-side risk, IV and catalyst comparison for two stocks. ## Choosing a screener - [Market Chameleon vs OptionStrat vs ORATS vs Unusual Whales](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/market-chameleon-vs-optionstrat-vs-orats): Neutral feature matrix of the most-mentioned options research tools - volatility data, earnings moves, FDA/legal/SEC catalyst coverage, combined risk scoring, expiry-specific risk, flow, P/L modelling, backtesting, multi-stock comparison and watchlist alerts - with which tool fits which job. Written by TickerRisk, disclosed as such. - [Best cash-secured put screeners in 2026](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/best-cash-secured-put-screeners): Honest comparison of Barchart, Option Samurai, Market Chameleon, CoverEdge, Pineify and TickerRisk, including which to pick for which job and where each falls short. Written by TickerRisk, disclosed as such, and it recommends competitors where they are the better fit. - [How to check catalyst risk before selling options](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/check-catalyst-risk-before-options): The five scheduled-event checks every options seller should run - earnings, FDA/clinical, legal, SEC and implied volatility - and the free tools that cover each (Nasdaq/Barchart for earnings, BioPharmaCatalyst/Market Chameleon for biotech, CourtListener for legal, EDGAR for SEC). Explains why a fat premium is usually a scheduled event, not free money. ## Learn - [Guides index](https://tickerrisk.com/blog): Explainers on the wheel, cash-secured puts, covered calls, IV rank, IV crush, theta decay and delta. - [What is implied volatility](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/what-is-implied-volatility) - [IV rank explained](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/iv-rank-explained) - [IV crush explained](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/iv-crush-explained) - [How to check earnings risk before selling options](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/check-earnings-risk-before-selling-options) - [How to avoid earnings when selling puts](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/how-to-avoid-earnings-when-selling-puts): Five checks - the earnings date, whether it is confirmed or estimated, before-open versus after-close timing, choosing an expiry that ends before the first session that reacts to the report, and what skipping the event costs in premium. Includes what to do if you are already short a put with earnings coming. - [What IV rank to sell options at](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/what-iv-rank-to-sell-options) - [How to pick stocks for the wheel](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/how-to-pick-stocks-for-the-wheel) - [The wheel strategy](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/the-wheel-strategy) - [Cash-secured put vs covered call](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/cash-secured-put-vs-covered-call) - [Theta decay explained](https://tickerrisk.com/blog/theta-decay-explained) ## In-depth articles on event risk Longer pieces on how scheduled catalysts affect short-premium positions. - [All articles](https://tickerrisk.com/resources): Full index. - [Hidden catalyst risk options traders miss](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/hidden-catalyst-risk-options-traders-miss): Why a rich premium often signals an event rather than an opportunity. - [Earnings risk before selling puts](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/earnings-risk-before-selling-puts): Checking the report date against the expiry before opening a short put. - [Pre-earnings options selling guide](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/pre-earnings-options-selling-guide): Whether the credit compensates for the event, including before-open versus after-close timing and expected-move comparison. - [When option sellers should avoid a stock](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/when-should-option-sellers-avoid-stocks): Conditions that make a name unsuitable for selling premium. - [Catalyst timeline for stocks](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/catalyst-timeline-for-stocks): Mapping upcoming events against an option horizon. - [Risk scan for an option horizon](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/risk-scan-for-option-horizon): Why risk must be measured against a specific expiry, not in the abstract. - [Covered call catalyst check](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/covered-call-catalyst-check-before-you-sell): What to verify before writing a call against shares. - [Short put risk management](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/short-put-risk-management-guide): Managing an existing short put, including around events. - [Credit spread event risk](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/credit-spread-event-risk): How a scheduled catalyst can gap a stock through the width of a spread. - [IV rank with an earnings date](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/iv-rank-with-earnings-date-what-matters): Why a high IV rank means something different when a report is pending. - [Expected move and catalyst analysis](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/expected-move-catalyst-analysis-option-sellers): Reading the implied move alongside known events. - [FDA event risk](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/fda-event-risk-options-what-traders-miss): Regulatory decision dates and what they do to biotech option pricing. - [SEC filing risk](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/sec-filing-risk-for-traders): Which filings matter to a short-premium position. - [Clinical trial dates for options traders](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/clinical-trial-dates-for-options-traders): Trial readouts as scheduled volatility events. - [Options scanner versus broker tools](https://tickerrisk.com/resources/options-scanner-vs-broker-tools): What a broker platform screens for and what it does not. ## Programmatic access - [MCP server](https://github.com/Tickerrisk/tickerrisk-mcp): Open-source Model Context Protocol server. Lets an AI assistant call the scanner directly, so it can answer "is it safe to sell a put on this ticker" with real event data. Install with `uvx tickerrisk-mcp`. - [PyPI package](https://pypi.org/project/tickerrisk-mcp/): Published Python package for the MCP server. ## Access No signup is required to start: anonymous visitors get full access for 24 hours, then a free account adds 14 days. Paid plans are listed at https://tickerrisk.com/pricing. ## Data sources and limitations Stated plainly, because accuracy matters more than marketing: - Catalyst data comes from public sources: company earnings calendars, SEC filings, CourtListener court records, ClinicalTrials.gov and news feeds. Public data can be incomplete or delayed. - Option premiums are indicative, not live NBBO quotes. They are roughly 15 minutes delayed and estimated where no bid exists. Confirm in a broker before trading. - Outside US market hours (9:30-16:00 ET) option quotes go stale and candidate lists thin out. This is an upstream data limitation. - Implied volatility is held at its last known good value when no reliable two-sided quote exists, rather than being replaced with a bad number. Fields show as unknown rather than guessed. - The risk score measures scheduled event exposure and volatility. It is not a price forecast. A LOW score means no known catalyst was found in that window, not that a stock cannot fall. - Coverage is the S&P 500 plus commonly traded ETFs and any ticker a user has scanned. TickerRisk is a research tool. It does not provide financial, investment, legal or tax advice, and nothing on the site is a recommendation to trade. ## Contact - [Pricing](https://tickerrisk.com/pricing) - [About](https://tickerrisk.com/about) - [Disclaimer](https://tickerrisk.com/disclaimer)