# Turn on intel

> Set the SEC contact email and an optional OpenAI key so Scalpel reads filings, dilution, shares outstanding and news. What each source needs and costs.

Source: https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/set-up-intel
Guide 9.1, Intel: borrow, dilution and catalysts. Beginner, 7 min read.
Checked with Scalpel 1.12.8 on 2026-10-15. By Scalpel Team.

**In short:**

Intel is on by default: borrow and news catalysts work straight away from your IBKR connection. To turn on SEC filings (the dilution read, shares outstanding, market cap and the short interest percent), open **Settings > Intel** and enter a real email in **Contact email**; it is sent only to sec.gov, which requires it. Optionally, add an OpenAI API key for AI headline grading and warrant and offering prices on the chart, for a few cents a day.

Intel is what Scalpel knows about a stock that the tape cannot show: whether the company is about to sell stock into your move, why the stock is moving, and whether shorts are trapped. It runs on free sources only: Interactive Brokers' own data and the news on your account, SEC EDGAR, FINRA and Nasdaq. There is no paid news or data service to subscribe to. The one optional extra is an OpenAI key.

**Before you start:**

- Scalpel connected to TWS or IB Gateway ([guide 1.4](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/connect-interactive-brokers)).
- An email address you read. The SEC asks for a real one.
- Optional: an OpenAI account with an API key and billing set up.

## What intel reads, and what each part needs

| Read | Source | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Borrow: shares left to short, the borrow fee | IBKR's live shortable data and its public stock-loan file, the Nasdaq Reg SHO threshold list, FINRA daily short volume | Nothing extra |
| Short interest and days to cover | FINRA | Nothing extra (the percent needs the share count) |
| News catalysts | The news providers on your IBKR account, graded by keyword | Nothing extra |
| Dilution: filings, shelves, offerings, cash runway | SEC EDGAR | **Contact email** |
| Shares outstanding, market cap | SEC EDGAR | **Contact email** |
| AI headline grading | OpenAI | An OpenAI key |
| Warrant, offering and conversion lines on the chart | SEC EDGAR, read by OpenAI | **Contact email** and an OpenAI key |

Intel follows up to 40 symbols at once: the stocks you hold first, then the symbols on your desks, then the IBKR scanner's list ([guide 8.1](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/set-up-ibkr-scanner)). Everything runs on your own computer: requests go straight from Scalpel to each source.

## Set up intel

### 1. Open the Intel tab

Open **Settings** (`Ctrl`+`,`) and click **Intel**. **Enabled**, beside **Intel (borrow, dilution, catalysts)**, is ticked by default. Under it, five status lines say what is working. Before setup, the first reads **SEC filings: off until a contact email is set below**.

*Screenshot: The Intel tab before setup: SEC filings off, and the Contact email field, outlined, still empty.*

### 2. Enter your contact email

Under **SEC EDGAR**, type your email in **Contact email**. The SEC's fair access rules require every automated request to name a real contact, and sec.gov refuses anonymous or placeholder ones, so filings stay off until this is set.

The address goes only to sec.gov, in the User-Agent header of each request. FINRA, Nasdaq, IBKR's file server and OpenAI see a generic "Scalpel trading cockpit" with no contact details.

### 3. Apply and check the status

Click **Apply**. Scalpel re-reads every watched company at once, so the dilution chips, SHS OUT and MKT CAP fill in within a minute or so, without a restart. The first status line changes to **SEC filings: live**.

*Screenshot: The Intel tab after setup: the status lines, outlined, read SEC filings live, the news providers on the account, the borrow file's time, OpenAI on and 32 symbols watched.*

### 4. Optional: add an OpenAI key

Scroll down to **OpenAI (optional)** and paste your key into **API key**. Two switches, both on by default, decide what it is used for:

- **Grade headlines**: each live headline is graded by OpenAI's Decisions API for its kind, strength, whether it raises money and whether it is new. The keyword grade shows first and the AI grade replaces it when it lands, usually within a few seconds. Billed on input only, a few cents a day.
- **Extract filing terms**: financing filings are read for their warrant, offering and conversion prices, which become the orange lines on the chart ([guide 9.6](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/warrant-and-offering-lines)). Each filing is read once and cached for good.

*Screenshot: The lower half of the Intel tab: the API key and its two switches, outlined.*

Instead of pasting the key, you can set the **OPENAI_API_KEY** environment variable; Scalpel uses it when the box is empty. The status line reads **OpenAI: on** once a key is in place.

### 5. Set how much news history to load

**News history days** is how far back Scalpel loads headlines for a stock when it first starts watching it: 3 by default, from 1 to 30. It applies on the next start.

## The status lines

| Line | What it means |
|---|---|
| **SEC filings: off until a contact email is set below** | No valid email (it needs an @ and a dot). Filings, dilution and share counts are off |
| **SEC filings: waiting for sec.gov** | The email is set but sec.gov has not answered yet. Normal for a few seconds; if it stays, see below |
| **SEC filings: live** | Filings are being read |
| **News: BRFG, BRFUPDN, ...** | The news providers on your IBKR account, by IBKR's codes. **News: waiting for IBKR** until TWS answers |
| **IBKR borrow file: loaded (...)** | IBKR's stock-loan file, with the time IBKR stamped on it. Scalpel fetches it every 15 minutes |
| **OpenAI: no key, keyword grading only** | No key: the keyword grader runs and no supply lines are drawn |
| **OpenAI: on** | The key is set |
| **OpenAI: key rejected, keyword grading until it changes** | OpenAI refused the key. Scalpel stops calling until you enter a different one |
| **Watching 32 symbols** | How many symbols intel follows now, up to 40 |

## What it costs and what is shared

The SEC, FINRA, Nasdaq and IBKR sources are free. The news is whatever your IBKR account already carries through the API; Scalpel does not add a provider. The OpenAI key is billed by OpenAI to your own account: headline grading is a few cents a day, and filing extraction is a one-off per filing.

When the key is set, OpenAI receives the headline (and up to the first 1,200 characters of the article, when IBKR supplies it) with the ticker, price, change and market cap, and excerpts of financing filings. Nothing about your account or your trades is sent.

## What can go wrong

- **SEC filings stays on "waiting for sec.gov".** Something is blocking the connection to sec.gov (a firewall, a VPN, a proxy), or the address contains characters a web header cannot carry, such as an accented letter. Use a plain ASCII address. See [the fix guide](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/fix-intel-off).
- **News stays on "waiting for IBKR", or no catalyst chips appear.** Your IBKR account has no news providers available to the API. Check the news subscriptions on your IBKR account; several are free.
- **OpenAI: key rejected.** The key is wrong, revoked, or the OpenAI account has no billing. Fix it on OpenAI's side and paste the key again.
- **A stock has no chips at all.** It may be past the 40 symbols intel follows. Load it onto a desk: desk symbols come before the scanner list.

## Questions

**Why does Scalpel need my email for SEC filings?**

The SEC requires every automated request to sec.gov to carry a real contact in its User-Agent header and refuses anonymous ones. Scalpel sends the address only to sec.gov hosts.

**Do I need an OpenAI key?**

No. Without one, a keyword grader grades headlines and every dilution, borrow and short interest read still works. The key adds AI grading and the warrant and offering lines on the chart.

**How much does the OpenAI key cost to run?**

Headline grading is billed on input only and comes to a few cents a day. Filing extraction runs once per financing filing and is cached, so it costs little after the first days.

**Does intel need a paid news subscription?**

No. Scalpel grades the headlines from whatever news providers your IBKR account already has through the API. It does not use any paid third-party news feed.

**Which symbols does intel follow?**

Up to 40: the stocks you hold, then the symbols on your desks, then the IBKR scanner's list in IBKR's order. Symbols past 40 get no intel until a slot frees up.

**What happens if I untick Enabled?**

Intel stops: no chips, no desk strips, no supply lines, no dilution guard and no intel alerts. Running up with Require news catalyst then shows nothing, because no stock has a headline on file.