The whole order bar turns grey only when the US market is fully closed: before 04:00 ET, after 20:00 ET, at weekends and on market holidays. Pre-market (04:00 to 09:30 ET) and after-hours (16:00 to 20:00 ET) trade normally, because Scalpel is built pre-market first. While it is closed, buy and sell keys show "Market closed - orders disabled", but B, Shift+T and Ctrl+Q still work.
Scalpel blocks new entries and exits outside every session because there is no real market to trade against then: no liquidity for a LIVE order, and nothing honest for SIM to fill against. It reads the session from your computer's clock, converted to New York time, with the NYSE holiday and half-day calendar built in.
Market closed - orders disabled
The orange toast you get when you press a buy or sell key with the market closed. The header clock shows Closed (or Weekend, or Holiday) under the Eastern time, and each desk's badge reads CLOSED in grey.
20:14:07 ETClosed
D1TRADERABCDCLOSED
CHART
10s1m5m1h1d
Above VWAP, EMAs upBroke the range high
BuyShares v$571100 sh$1.4k250 sh$2.9k500 sh$5.7k1000 sh
Offset-10c+
SellFull1/21/41/2 Ask1/2 MidB/ETrail
Offset-10c+
Market closed - orders disabled
123
After 20:00 ET: the header reads Closed1, the desk badge CLOSED2, and every order bar button is grey 3. Demo data.
When the order bar works
Session (New York time)
Order bar
Header says
04:00 to 09:30, pre-market
Works
Pre-market
09:30 to 16:00, regular hours
Works
Regular hours
16:00 to 20:00, after-hours
Works
After-hours
20:00 to 04:00, weekends, holidays
Grey
Closed, Weekend or Holiday
On a half day (the day after Thanksgiving, and July 3 and Christmas Eve when they fall on a weekday), regular hours end at 13:00 and after-hours at 17:00, and the header says Half day.
What still works while it is closed
Stop to breakeven (B), Toggle trailing stop (Shift+T) and Cancel all orders (Ctrl+Q, Shift+Q on a Mac) from the keyboard. Their buttons are grey with the rest, but the keys go through.
Flatten All (the header button, or Esc with nothing open) is never blocked: getting out must always be possible. It still sends, and the toast says what happens next:
in LIVE, "Flatten all sent. The market is closed: IBKR may hold the sells until pre-market opens at 4:00 ET". Check the Orders tab, and TWS, before you walk away;
in SIM, "Flatten all sent. The market is closed: SIM fills at the last prices it saw".
Settings, the symbol box, scan panels and charts all work as normal.
Grey for another reason
No symbol on the desk. An empty desk greys its order bar at any hour. Load a symbol (guide 2.1).
Only the sell row is grey. That is normal when you hold nothing on this desk: Full, 1/2, 1/4, 1/2 Ask, 1/2 Mid, B/E and Trail need a position. Scalpel is long only, so there is nothing to sell until you buy (guide 4.6).
The wrong clock. The session comes from your computer's time. If the header's ET clock is wrong, set Windows or macOS to set the time automatically. Your time zone does not matter; the time itself must be right.
The licence screen is up. Without a valid licence the cockpit is hidden and no key trades (guide 13.8).
Pre-market: Extended-hours fills is for entries
The order bar works pre-market. Your LIVE buys fill there only while Settings > Trading > Extended-hours fills is on, which is the default (guide 11.2). Off, IBKR holds LIVE buys until 09:30. Exits do not depend on it: every LIVE sell, including the exit Scalpel sends when a stop is hit, is always flagged for extended hours.
Scalpel's stops are watched by the app rather than resting at IBKR for exactly this reason: before the open, exchanges take limit orders only, so a plain stop order cannot protect you. When price trades through your stop, Scalpel sends a marketable limit sell 5 cents under the last trade, so it needs to be running and connected. A fast drop can still fill below your stop, or leave the exit unfilled. The full story is in guide 5.5; see also guide 5.1 and guide 4.4.
Questions
Why are all my order buttons grey in Scalpel?
The US market is fully closed: before 04:00 ET, after 20:00 ET, a weekend or a holiday. Pre-market and after-hours trade normally.
Can I trade pre-market with Scalpel?
Yes. Scalpel is built for the pre-market from 04:00 ET. Keep Extended-hours fills on in Settings > Trading so LIVE buys fill before the open. Sells and stop exits are always sent for extended hours.
Can I place an order tonight to fill at the open?
No. Scalpel sends marketable limit orders while you watch; it does not queue orders for a later session.
Which keys work when the market is closed?
B (stop to breakeven), Shift+T (trailing stop), Ctrl+Q (cancel all orders, Shift+Q on a Mac) and Esc for Flatten All. Buy and sell keys are blocked.
Does SIM work when the market is closed?
Not for new trades: SIM fills against the live book, so it follows the same sessions as LIVE. Flatten All still closes SIM positions, at the last prices it saw.