# The dilution entry guard

> After a financing filing or offering headline, Scalpel holds your first buy on it and asks for a second press within 4 seconds. How the guard works.

Source: https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/dilution-entry-guard
Guide 9.7, Intel: borrow, dilution and catalysts. Beginner, 3 min read.
Checked with Scalpel 1.12.8 on 2026-10-15. By Scalpel Team.

**In short:**

For 30 minutes after a financing filing or an offering headline on a stock, Scalpel holds back your first press of a buy key on it and shows an amber toast, such as **CDEF: 424B5 filed. Press buy again to confirm**. Press the same buy again within 4 seconds to send the order. It is on by default; change the window with **Guard minutes** (1 to 1,440) or switch it off with **Dilution entry guard** in Settings > Intel.

The worst time to buy a small cap is right after it files to sell stock: the spike you are chasing is often the company's chance to sell to you. In a fast tape, it is easy to press buy before you have read the new red chip. The guard does not block you. It makes you press twice, once to see the warning and once to mean it.

**Before you start:**

- Intel on ([guide 9.1](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/set-up-intel)). Filings need the SEC contact email; offering headlines work from your IBKR news alone.

## How it works

When you press a buy key (`Shift`+`1` to `Shift`+`4`, or a buy button on the order bar), Scalpel checks the stock on the focused desk. If, within the last **Guard minutes** (30 by default), the company made a financing filing or an offering headline came out, the press is held back:

*Screenshot: The first press held back: an amber toast names the newest trigger and asks for a second press.*

- The toast names the newer of the two triggers: the filing's form (**424B5 filed**, **S-1/A filed**, **8-K filed**) or **Offering headline**.
- A short rejection sound plays, and no order is sent.
- **Press the same buy again within 4 seconds** (same desk, same preset key) to send it. The second press goes through as normal.
- A different preset key, another desk, or a press after 4 seconds counts as a new first press and is held again.

The financing filings that arm it are the ones in [guide 9.2](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/check-dilution): S-1 and F-1 registrations and amendments, S-3 and F-3 shelves, EFFECT notices, 424B prospectuses (not 424B2), 8-Ks with item 3.02, and 8-Ks that the AI reads as a stock sale. Offering headlines are those graded as raising money ([guide 9.4](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/catalyst-grading)).

It applies in SIM and LIVE alike. It never touches sells, stops or Flatten All: getting out is never delayed.

## Change the window or switch it off

Open **Settings** (`Ctrl`+`,`), click **Intel** and scroll to **Alerts and guard**.

*Screenshot: Settings, Intel, scrolled down: Dilution entry guard and Guard minutes, outlined.*

- **Dilution entry guard**: on by default. Untick it to never hold a buy.
- **Guard minutes**: how long after the filing or headline the guard stays armed, from 1 to 1,440 (a whole day). 30 by default.

Click **Apply**; it takes effect at once.

**Tip.**

If you trade the pre-market, consider raising Guard minutes to 240 or more: an offering filed at 07:00 is still the biggest fact about the stock at 09:45.

## Related alerts

The guard is about entries. Separately, and whatever the guard setting, a financing filing or offering headline on a stock you **hold** always raises a red toast and a spoken exit warning, and on a stock you only watch, an amber toast ([guide 10.2](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/alerts-and-toasts)).

## Questions

**Does the guard block me from buying?**

No. It holds the first press and asks you to confirm. Press the same buy key again within 4 seconds and the order is sent.

**Why did my buy not go through after I pressed twice?**

The second press must be the same preset key on the same desk within 4 seconds. A different key, another desk, or a slower second press starts over.

**Does it work without the SEC email?**

Partly. Offering headlines from your IBKR news still arm it. Financing filings need the SEC contact email set in Settings > Intel.

**Does it slow down my exits?**

No. The guard only checks buys. Sells, stops, the take-profit and Flatten All are never held.