SEC Form 424B5 Files Dataset

The SEC Form 424B5 Files Dataset is a structured corpus of every Form 424B5 prospectus filing submitted to EDGAR from January 1, 1994 to the present. Form 424B5 is a final-terms prospectus filed under Rule 424(b)(5) of the Securities Act of 1933, used when a shelf takedown from an already-effective Form S-3, F-3, or N-2 registration both supplies pricing and offering-specific terms that were omitted from the base prospectus under Rule 430B and substantively updates the base prospectus (for example, by incorporating a new periodic report, refreshing risk factors, or describing a new series of preferred stock or notes). Each record in the dataset corresponds to one EDGAR accession — one complete 424B5 submission filed by one registrant on one day under one SEC file number — and is delivered as its own folder containing a metadata.json manifest plus every non-image document from the original EDGAR submission (the prospectus supplement itself and any exhibits filed alongside it). The dataset is distributed as monthly ZIP containers with content files in HTML, TXT, PDF, and JSON formats; image files (EDGAR document type GRAPHIC) are deliberately excluded from disk but remain fully enumerated in the metadata with absolute SEC.gov URLs so that any original submission can be reconstructed.

Dataset APIs

Dataset Files

What This Dataset Contains

The dataset is built from the complete population of 424B5 filings made on EDGAR since the system's mandatory-filing rollout in the mid-1990s. It is not a sample, a filtered subset, or a normalized extract: for every accession typed 424B5 by EDGAR, the original submission is preserved as-filed with its SGML document envelopes, exhibit ordering, and filer-agent filename conventions intact. Coverage runs from January 1, 1994 through the most recent monthly refresh, traversing the ASCII/SGML era of early EDGAR, the HTML-dominant era from the mid-2000s onward, the 2005 Securities Offering Reform, and the 2022 introduction of the inline-XBRL EX-FILING FEES exhibit under Item 601(b)(107) of Regulation S-K.

Each record is materialized on disk as an accession-keyed folder inside a monthly ZIP container. The folder name is the 18-digit EDGAR accession number with hyphens stripped (so 0001493152-25-028480 becomes 000149315225028480). Inside the folder are exactly one metadata.json describing the filing plus every non-image document from the original EDGAR submission: the primary 424B5 prospectus supplement (always sequence 1) and any exhibits — the underwriting or sales agreement (EX-1.1), the legality opinion of counsel (EX-5.1), the auditor's consent (EX-23.1), the filing-fee calculation exhibit (EX-FILING FEES, also known as Exhibit 107), and occasional additional exhibits such as EX-4.1 indentures, EX-8.1 tax opinions, or EX-99.x collateral materials. Image files (GRAPHIC entries, typically .jpg and .gif logos, signature bitmaps, and rendered charts) are omitted from the folder but remain fully enumerated in metadata.json with absolute documentUrl values pointing to SEC.gov.

The dataset is distributed in ZIP containers, one per calendar month, with content files in HTML (dominant), TXT (early filings and the complete-submission text file), PDF (occasional courtesy copies), and JSON (reserved for metadata.json). The dataset refreshes as new 424B5 filings are submitted to EDGAR, and a public JSON index exposes the full container inventory with per-container record counts and update timestamps.

Content Structure of a Single Record

What one record represents

One record in the Form 424B5 Files Dataset corresponds to a single EDGAR accession — one complete Form 424B5 submission filed by one registrant on one day under one SEC file number. On disk, each record is materialized as its own folder at the root of the monthly ZIP container, with the folder name equal to the 18-digit EDGAR accession number with hyphens stripped (so accession 0001493152-25-028480 becomes folder 000149315225028480). Inside that folder sit exactly one metadata.json describing the filing plus every non-image document that was part of the original EDGAR submission: the primary 424B5 prospectus supplement and any exhibits the registrant filed alongside it. Image files from the submission (EDGAR document type GRAPHIC, typically .jpg and .gif logos, signature bitmaps, and rendered chart images) are deliberately excluded from the folder but remain enumerated in metadata.json with absolute SEC.gov URLs so the original submission can still be reconstructed.

The underlying filing

Form 424B5 is a final-terms prospectus filed under Rule 424(b)(5) of the Securities Act of 1933. It is not a standalone registration; it is a takedown document drawn from a previously effective shelf registration on Form S-3 (occasionally Form F-3 for foreign private issuers). When a shelf is declared effective, its base prospectus deliberately omits offering-specific terms — issue price, offering size, underwriting spread, plan of distribution, identity of underwriters or sales agents, and other pricing-contingent information. Rule 424(b)(5) is the vehicle by which those omitted terms are filed once an actual takedown is priced. The 424B5 therefore always functions as a supplement that, together with the base prospectus it references and the registration statement that authorizes it, forms the complete statutory prospectus for the particular offering.

Because 424B5 is a pricing supplement for a shelf takedown, the documentary universe is tightly prescribed: a prospectus supplement narrative, any new transaction documents made effective at takedown (underwriting or sales agreement, legality opinion of counsel, auditor consent, and — since 2022 — a filing-fee calculation exhibit), and a chain of incorporation-by-reference pointers back to the base prospectus, the effective registration statement (identified by a 333- file number), and the registrant's periodic reports.

On-disk content of a single record

Every accession folder in the dataset contains:

• metadata.json — a single JSON object describing the filing, its filer entities, and an inventory of every document in the original EDGAR submission (including images, which are enumerated but not copied to disk).
• The primary 424B5 document — an HTML file typed 424B5 in the EDGAR manifest. This is the prospectus supplement itself, always present as sequence 1, and is the narrative heart of the record.
• Exhibit files, when the submission included them — each as a separate HTML file whose EDGAR document type labels its role: EX-1.1 (underwriting or sales agreement), EX-5.1 (legality-of-securities opinion of counsel), EX-23.1 (consent of independent registered public accounting firm), EX-FILING FEES (the Rule 457 / Form SR calculation-of-filing-fee-tables exhibit, also known as Exhibit 107), and occasionally other codes (EX-4.1 for indentures and supplemental indentures or forms of note, EX-8.1 for tax opinions, EX-99.x for press releases or collateral materials made part of the prospectus).

The file-count distribution is bimodal. The large majority of records are minimal two-file folders — metadata.json plus a single prospectus-supplement HTML — because many shelf takedowns rely entirely on exhibits already filed under earlier takedowns or under the Form S-3 itself. A smaller band adds a single EX-FILING FEES exhibit, producing a three-file folder. Richer records with the full exhibit quartet (underwriting or sales agreement, legality opinion, auditor consent, and filing-fee calculation) run to four or five documents plus metadata.json.

Each HTML document in the folder retains the EDGAR SGML wrapper that prefixed it in the original submission. The wrapper carries the <DOCUMENT>, <TYPE>, <SEQUENCE>, <FILENAME>, <DESCRIPTION>, and <TEXT> tags, followed by the full HTML body, and closed by </TEXT> and </DOCUMENT>. The <TYPE>, <SEQUENCE>, <FILENAME>, and <DESCRIPTION> values mirror the entries in the metadata file's documentFormatFiles array, giving consistent in-band identification of each document.

Shape of metadata.json

metadata.json is a flat JSON object whose top-level keys capture filing-level facts, filer identity, the document manifest, and stable cross-references to SEC.gov.

• formType — always "424B5" in this dataset.
• accessionNo — the hyphenated 18-digit EDGAR accession number (for example "0001493152-25-028480"); the folder name on disk is the un-hyphenated form of the same value.
• filedAt — the EDGAR receipt timestamp in ISO 8601 with a UTC offset (for example "2025-12-19T13:03:21-05:00"), preserving filing-day precision.
• description — the EDGAR human-readable label for the filing, typically "Form 424B5 - Prospectus [Rule 424(b)(5)]".
• linkToFilingDetails — absolute URL to the primary 424B5 document on www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/....
• linkToTxt — URL to the complete EDGAR submission text file (the single concatenated .txt version of all submission documents).
• linkToHtml — URL to the EDGAR index page for the accession.
• linkToXbrl — URL to XBRL content for the filing; empty on most 424B5 records because the prospectus narrative is not XBRL-tagged.
• id — a stable hexadecimal content identifier assigned to the record.
• documentFormatFiles — an array enumerating every document in the original submission, images included.
• entities — an array of filer and related-party descriptors.
• seriesAndClassesContractsInformation — typically empty for 424B5; populated for fund-related filings that carry series/class structures.
• dataFiles — populated when the submission contains extracted data artifacts, most commonly an inline-XBRL instance document produced from the EX-FILING FEES exhibit.

Each entry in documentFormatFiles carries sequence, size, documentUrl, description, and type, all string-encoded. The type field uses the EDGAR document-type vocabulary (424B5, EX-1.1, EX-5.1, EX-23.1, EX-FILING FEES, GRAPHIC, and so on) and is the most reliable field for programmatic classification of each file. The description field is a free-form label that usually echoes type but may include richer text such as "Complete submission text file" or "AMENDMENT NO. 5". One synthetic entry representing the complete submission text file appears with a single-space sequence and a single-space type. GRAPHIC entries remain in the manifest even though the image bytes are not bundled to disk, so a downstream consumer can still enumerate exactly what the original EDGAR submission contained and, if needed, fetch the images directly from SEC.gov via documentUrl. Some documentUrl values for the filing-fee exhibit use the /ix?doc= inline-XBRL viewer prefix rather than a raw file path.

Each entry in entities structures one filer or related-party block: cik (central index key, numeric string, no leading zeros), companyName (legal name with role annotation, e.g., "... (Filer)"), type (the form type attributed to that entity's role in the submission), fileNo (the 333--prefixed SEC registration number tying the 424B5 back to its Form S-3 shelf, for example "333-283182"), irsNo (Employer Identification Number, unpadded), stateOfIncorporation (two-letter code; E9 and similar codes appear for foreign issuers), fiscalYearEnd (MMDD), sic (SIC code plus English description, e.g., "2834 Pharmaceutical Preparations"), act (Securities Act designation, typically "33"), filmNo (EDGAR film imaging number), and tickers (array of associated ticker symbols; for multi-series issuers this array may carry several symbols).

Structure of the main 424B5 document

The prospectus supplement is the substantive centerpiece of the record. Its internal structure is highly conventional across filers, shaped by Items 501–512 of Regulation S-K and the general instructions of Form S-3, though the ordering and precise section names vary with offering type (common-stock takedown, preferred stock, straight or convertible notes, subscription rights, at-the-market program, underwritten block trade).

The cover page carries a prescribed set of front-matter items:

• A Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5) legend.
• The Registration No. 333-______ corresponding to the effective shelf.
• A document label of the form PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT (To the Prospectus Dated <date>), which establishes the two-part-document relationship explicitly.
• An offering headline stating the aggregate dollar amount or share count, the security type (for example, Up to $5,289,599.84 of Shares of Common Stock (Par Value $0.0005 per share)), and the issuer name.
• Identification of the underwriter, sales agent, or dealer manager and — for at-the-market programs — the commission rate (e.g., 3.0% of gross sales price) and the Rule 415(a)(4) statutory basis for the offering.
• Exchange and trading-symbol identification, the last reported sale price on the trading day immediately before the filing, and, for small-cap shelf issuers, the General Instruction I.B.6 "baby shelf" public-float statement with the one-third-of-float limitation calculation.
• A forward cross-reference to the Risk Factors section (for example, See "RISK FACTORS" beginning on page S-12 of this prospectus supplement and page 4 of the accompanying base prospectus).
• The supplement date on the final cover-page line.

The body of the supplement then proceeds through a canonical sequence of sections. A representative prospectus-supplement table of contents runs:

• About this Prospectus Supplement — a short explanatory note framing the two-part document (supplement plus accompanying base prospectus), identifying the Form S-3 shelf that authorizes the offering, and clarifying which document controls in the event of conflicts.
• Summary — issuer overview, business description, and a precis of the offering.
• The Offering — a structured recitation of the security offered, issuer, ticker, aggregate size, method of distribution, agent or underwriter identity, use of proceeds, and risk-factor reference.
• Risk Factors — risks specific to the offering itself (dilution, stock-price volatility from ATM sales, interest-rate or covenant risks on debt takedowns), layered on top of incorporation-by-reference of the risk factors in the registrant's most recent Form 10-K and any intervening 10-Q.
• Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements — the Securities Act Section 27A / Exchange Act Section 21E safe-harbor recitation.
• Use of Proceeds — an itemization of how proceeds will be applied (working capital, debt repayment, R&D, acquisitions, general corporate purposes), typically with a caveat for ATM programs that the exact amount raised cannot be predicted.
• Dividend Policy — historical dividends paid and the board's go-forward policy.
• Capitalization — a pre-offering and as-adjusted capitalization table showing cash, debt tranches, and stockholders' equity.
• Dilution — net tangible book value per share before and after the offering, with the calculated dollar-per-share dilution to new investors.
• Plan of Distribution — the offering mechanics. For an ATM, this describes placement notices, the method of sale under Rule 415(a)(4), commission economics, expense reimbursements, indemnification, and the deemed-underwriter status of the sales agent. For an underwritten block trade, it lists the underwriting syndicate, underwriting discounts, stabilization provisions, lock-up terms, and Rule 10b5-1 or Rule 10b-18 references.
• Legal Matters / Experts — identification of counsel issuing the EX-5.1 legality opinion and the independent registered public accounting firm whose audit report and consent are incorporated.
• Where You Can Find More Information / Information Incorporated by Reference — an enumerated list of the registrant's periodic and current reports (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, proxy statement) incorporated by reference into the statutory prospectus, plus forward incorporation of future filings until the offering terminates.

Immediately after its own table of contents the supplement typically reprints the base-prospectus table of contents, running through About this Prospectus, Prospectus Summary, Risk Factors, forward-looking-statement cautions, Use of Proceeds, the descriptions of securities that were generically registered on the shelf (Description of Capital Stock, Description of Warrants, Description of Units, Description of Debt Securities), Plan of Distribution, Legal Matters, Experts, and Incorporation of Information By Reference. Importantly, only the supplement's own body is carried in the dataset; the base prospectus is not included and must be retrieved from the Form S-3 accession.

Offering-type-dependent sections appear when the underlying security is not plain common stock. Preferred-stock supplements add a Description of the Series __ Preferred Stock section covering dividend rate, liquidation preference, optional and mandatory redemption, conversion rights, and voting rights. Debt takedowns add a Description of the Notes (or Description of the <Series> Notes) section covering indenture, trustee, ranking, covenants, events of default, and optional-redemption mechanics, plus Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations and frequently Underwriting (Conflicts of Interest) to address FINRA Rule 5121 disclosures. Subscription-rights offerings add The Rights Offering and Description of the Rights. Convertible takedowns add descriptions of conversion mechanics, make-whole adjustments, and any hedging or capped-call arrangements.

Incorporated exhibits

Exhibits attached to a 424B5 submission are each stored as a separate HTML file inside the accession folder and classified by the EDGAR type field on the corresponding documentFormatFiles entry.

EX-1.1 — Underwriting or sales agreement. The executed transactional agreement between the issuer and the lead underwriter, sales agent, dealer manager, or distribution agent. For at-the-market programs the agreement is styled as a Sales Agreement or Equity Distribution Agreement and covers placement-notice mechanics, issuance-and-sale procedures, suspensions, representations and warranties, covenants, conditions precedent to each sale, indemnification and contribution, termination, and governing law. For firm-commitment offerings the agreement is styled as an Underwriting Agreement and additionally specifies the closing date, the underwriters' several obligations, the greenshoe (over-allotment) option, stabilization permissions, and lock-up arrangements. Signature pages and schedules (including any pricing schedule or form-of-opinion attachments) are included in the exhibit body. Once a Sales Agreement has been filed with the initial 424B5 for an ATM program, subsequent supplements usually reference the previously filed agreement rather than refile it, which is the main reason most records are minimal two-file folders even for complex offering programs.

EX-5.1 — Legality-of-securities opinion. A short letter from the issuer's counsel to the board of directors, furnished pursuant to Item 601(b)(5) of Regulation S-K. It identifies counsel, lists the corporate and transaction documents reviewed, states customary assumptions (authenticity of signatures, genuineness of documents, legal capacity of signatories), and concludes with the operative opinion — typically that the securities, when issued, delivered, and paid for in accordance with the prospectus supplement, will be validly issued, fully paid, and non-assessable (for equity) or will constitute binding obligations of the issuer enforceable in accordance with their terms (for debt). A consent to being named under the "Legal Matters" heading is included at the foot of the letter.

EX-23.1 — Consent of independent registered public accounting firm. A short consent letter from the issuer's auditor, furnished pursuant to Item 601(b)(23) of Regulation S-K and Rule 436. It consents to the incorporation by reference of the auditor's prior audit report on the issuer's financial statements (identifying the report date and the balance-sheet dates covered), consents to the reference to the firm under the "Experts" heading, and is signed with the firm name, city, and PCAOB registration number (for example, PCAOB ID #05525).

EX-FILING FEES (Exhibit 107) — Calculation of Filing Fee Tables. Filed pursuant to Item 601(b)(107) of Regulation S-K, effective for filings on or after the compliance date in 2022, this exhibit renders the Rule 457 filing-fee calculation as a structured table ("Calculation of Filing Fee Tables") broken out into columns for security type, security class title, fee-calculation or carry-forward rule, amount registered, proposed maximum offering price per unit, maximum aggregate offering price, fee rate, and amount of registration fee, with companion columns for any carry-forward form type, carry-forward file number, carry-forward initial effective date, and filing fee previously paid on unsold carry-forward securities. The exhibit embeds inline-XBRL markup (the iso4217:USD, xbrli:pure, and xbrli:shares namespaces appear inline) so the tabular values can be machine-extracted; when EDGAR generates an extracted XBRL instance document for the exhibit, a pointer to the sibling *_htm.xml appears in metadata.json �� dataFiles, though the XML itself resides at SEC.gov rather than inside the accession folder.

Other exhibits appear occasionally depending on the offering: EX-4.1 for new indentures, supplemental indentures, or forms of note issued at takedown; EX-8.1 for tax opinions on tax-sensitive securities (convertible notes with contingent payment features, certain preferred stock); and EX-99.x for press releases, engagement letters, or collateral materials explicitly made part of the prospectus.

What the dataset includes and excludes

Inside each folder, the dataset includes metadata.json and every non-image document that was part of the original EDGAR submission. Images — entries whose EDGAR document type is GRAPHIC, typically .jpg and .gif files containing corporate logos, signature bitmaps, rendered charts, and page-layout art — are omitted from disk. They remain enumerated in metadata.json → documentFormatFiles with full documentUrl values, so a consumer who needs them can fetch them directly from SEC.gov. Extracted XBRL instance documents that accompany filing-fee exhibits are referenced in metadata.json → dataFiles but are hosted at SEC.gov rather than bundled into the folder.

What is structurally separate from the record and therefore not present in the folder at all: the base prospectus, the effective Form S-3 (or F-3) registration statement, and the periodic reports (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, DEF 14A) that the prospectus supplement incorporates by reference. These documents exist in their own EDGAR filings and must be retrieved from the corresponding accessions if a reader wants to assemble the complete statutory prospectus from source. Similarly, any previously filed EX-1.1 from an earlier takedown that the current supplement merely references is not copied into the current record.

File formats and filer-agent naming conventions

The file-types found in the dataset across its full history are HTML, TXT, PDF, and JSON. JSON is reserved for the single metadata.json per folder. The overwhelmingly dominant content format for modern records is HTML (filename extensions .htm or .html), which has been the EDGAR-native format for 424B5 prospectus supplements and their exhibits since the mid-2000s. TXT appears for very early filings during the ASCII/SGML era of EDGAR. PDF occurs as a supplemental format on a minority of filings when a registrant submits a PDF courtesy copy alongside the HTML filing.

Filename conventions are not standardized by the SEC; they are driven by the EDGAR filing agent that prepared the submission, and agent conventions are recognizable by the filer-agent CIK prefix embedded in the accession number:

• 000110465... (Toppan Merrill) uses tm<digits>_424b5.htm and tm<digits>d<n>_ex-filingfees.htm (for example tm2532414-2_424b5.htm, tm2532414d2_ex-filingfees.htm).
• 000119312... (Donnelley Financial / DFIN) uses d<digits>d424b5.htm and d<digits>dexfilingfees.htm.
• 000114036... (R.R. Donnelley, New York) uses ny<digits>x<n>_424b5.htm and ny<digits>x<n>_ex107.htm.
• 000149315... (Issuer Direct) uses the canonical flat form form424b5.htm, ex1-1.htm, ex5-1.htm, ex23-1.htm.
• Large self-filing issuers often adopt ticker-plus-date conventions such as riot-20251230x424b5.htm or a12-2025aep424b5jsds.htm.

The EDGAR document type field in metadata.json is the authoritative way to classify each file by role, since filenames are unreliable across filer agents.

Evolution of content and format since 1994

The dataset spans from January 1994 to the present and therefore traverses several format eras of EDGAR, even though the substantive regulatory obligation of a 424B5 — disclose the omitted pricing-contingent terms of a shelf takedown — has been stable throughout.

Format evolution runs along three broad eras. In the ASCII/SGML era of the mid-1990s, 424B5 filings were submitted as plain-text .txt files wrapped in SGML <DOCUMENT> envelopes, with tabular content represented by fixed-width ASCII layout. HTML adoption began in the late 1990s after the SEC permitted and then encouraged HTML filings, and by the mid-2000s HTML became the default format for virtually all prospectus supplements and their exhibits; this is the format that dominates the record population. From roughly 2005 onward, PDF courtesy copies occasionally accompany HTML filings but never replace them. The most recent format shift is the 2022 adoption of inline XBRL tagging for the filing-fee exhibit under Item 601(b)(107) of Regulation S-K; the 424B5 prospectus narrative itself is not XBRL-tagged, but the companion EX-FILING FEES exhibit embeds inline-XBRL so the filing-fee calculation tables are machine-extractable, and when a companion XBRL instance document exists it is referenced in metadata.json → dataFiles.

Content evolution is comparatively modest. The core architecture of a prospectus supplement — cover page, About-this-Supplement, Summary, The Offering, Risk Factors, Use of Proceeds, Capitalization, Dilution, Plan of Distribution, Legal Matters, Experts, Incorporation by Reference — has been a stable convention since the modern Form S-3 shelf framework took shape in the early 1990s. Several specific overlays have accumulated on top of that skeleton:

• The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 introduced the forward-looking-statement cautionary section now universally included.
• Regulation FD (2000) tightened the boundary between the prospectus and selective disclosure.
• Sarbanes-Oxley (2002) reshaped the auditor-consent exhibit through PCAOB registration, now reflected in the PCAOB ID disclosed in EX-23.1.
• The 2005 Securities Offering Reform (the Well-Known Seasoned Issuer framework and the creation of free writing prospectuses) altered which issuers use automatic shelves and relaxed some filing constraints but did not change the content architecture of 424B5 itself.
• General Instruction I.B.6 of Form S-3 (the "baby shelf" one-third-of-float limitation) introduced the small-cap public-float disclosure now present on the cover page of supplements from below-$75-million-float issuers.
• The 2020 amendments to Item 105 of Regulation S-K restructured the Risk Factors discussion and added summary-risk-factor requirements for long risk sections, which flow through to 424B5 supplements that reference the 10-K risk factors by incorporation.
• The 2022 Item 601(b)(107) framework added the EX-FILING FEES exhibit that now accompanies a meaningful fraction of 424B5 filings.

Interpretation notes

Several nuances matter when extracting or interpreting a record:

• The 424B5 is never self-contained. The statutory prospectus is the concatenation of the supplement, the base prospectus, and the documents incorporated by reference. The dataset contains only the supplement plus new exhibits filed at takedown; the base prospectus and incorporated periodic reports must be retrieved from their own EDGAR accessions.
• entities[].fileNo is the shelf link. A 333--prefixed number identifies the Form S-3 (or F-3) registration statement that authorizes the takedown and is the primary join key for assembling a complete offering dossier.
• EDGAR document type, not filename, is authoritative. Filer-agent conventions vary widely; the type field in documentFormatFiles classifies each document reliably.
• Images are enumerated but not bundled. Consumers who need GRAPHIC files (logos, signature images, rendered charts) must fetch them from SEC.gov using the documentUrl in the metadata.
• Inline-XBRL is confined to the filing-fee exhibit. The prospectus narrative itself is not tagged; machine extraction of the body of the 424B5 requires HTML parsing rather than XBRL consumption.
• Amendments and withdrawn filings use separate form types. Supplements that amend a prior 424B5 are typically refiled under 424B5 with new accession numbers; consequential amendments to exhibits are filed under the underlying form types (for example, an amended underwriting agreement as an 8-K exhibit). This dataset contains only filings typed 424B5.
• At-the-market programs generate many small supplements. ATM filers frequently refile 424B5 prospectus supplements when program parameters change, so the same issuer may appear multiple times across a single year with distinct accessions drawn from the same underlying shelf.
• Sales-agent-only filings usually omit EX-1.1 after the first takedown. Once a Sales Agreement has been filed with the initial 424B5 for an ATM program, subsequent supplements generally reference the previously filed agreement rather than refile it, which explains the prevalence of minimal two-file folders across the dataset.

Who Files Form 424B5 and When

Who files the record

Each record is a single Form 424B5 prospectus supplement filed on EDGAR by an issuer registrant with an already-effective shelf registration statement (typically Form S-3, F-3, or N-2) that is conducting a discrete takedown from that shelf. The filer is the issuer whose securities are being offered — not an underwriter, financial intermediary, or selling securityholder. In a registered secondary offering, the issuer remains the Rule 424 filer of record even though a named selling securityholder is the economic seller.

The 424B5 supplement, together with the base prospectus it updates, constitutes the statutory "prospectus" for the offering and is incorporated by reference into the effective registration statement (and therefore subject to Section 11 liability under the Securities Act).

Filing population

Filers are issuers eligible for shelf registration under Form S-3, F-3, or N-2. Typical populations include:

• Seasoned domestic operating companies on S-3 shelves issuing common stock, preferred stock, debt, warrants, units, or depositary shares.
• Foreign private issuers doing U.S. takedowns off F-3 shelves.
• Financial institutions and bank holding companies running recurring senior/subordinated note, MTN, preferred stock, and structured note programs.
• REITs and mortgage REITs accessing shelf capacity for equity or senior unsecured debt.
• Closed-end funds and BDCs conducting Securities Act shelf takedowns from N-2 registration statements.
• Issuers registering secondary distributions on behalf of selling securityholders off a resale shelf.

Issuers without shelf eligibility — for example, those using Form S-1 for single-offering registration — do not file 424B5; they file under other paragraphs of Rule 424(b), most commonly 424(b)(1) or (b)(4). Open-end mutual funds registered on Form N-1A file supplements under Rule 497, not Rule 424, and are outside this dataset.

Regulatory framework

The filing obligation arises under Rule 424 of Regulation C under the Securities Act of 1933. Rule 424(b)(5) specifically governs prospectuses that disclose information "covered in both paragraph (b)(2) and (b)(3)" of the rule. The relevant mechanics:

• Rule 424(b)(2) — supplements containing information omitted from the base prospectus in a shelf context (pricing, final terms).
• Rule 424(b)(3) — supplements reflecting substantive changes or material updates to an already-filed prospectus.
• Rule 424(b)(5) — a single supplement that does both: discloses previously omitted pricing/terms and makes substantive changes or updates.
• Rule 430B — the omission relief that permits the base prospectus to leave pricing and certain offering-specific terms blank at effectiveness, to be supplied later via the 424(b) supplement.

A 424B5 is the vehicle used when a shelf takedown both supplies Rule 430B-omitted information and updates the base prospectus (for example, incorporating a new 10-Q, refreshing risk factors, or describing a new series of preferred stock or notes not specifically covered in the base).

Triggering event

A 424B5 is strictly event-driven, not periodic. It is generated each time the issuer prices and launches a discrete shelf takedown whose final supplement both (i) supplies Rule 430B-omitted terms and (ii) substantively updates the base prospectus. Typical content that triggers the combined (b)(2)/(b)(3) classification:

• public offering price and underwriting discounts;
• identity of underwriters/agents and plan of distribution for the tranche;
• series-specific economic terms (coupon, maturity, conversion features);
• names and ownership of selling securityholders in a resale takedown;
• incorporation of new periodic reports or updated risk factor, business, or capitalization disclosure.

There is no cadence. A large active issuer may file dozens of 424B5s per year; a dormant shelf registrant may file none.

Filing deadline

Rule 424(b) sets a firm outer deadline: the supplement must be filed no later than the second business day following the earlier of (i) the date it is first used, or (ii) the date the public offering price is determined. Filings outside that window are not timely under Rule 424(b) and can jeopardize Rule 430B omission relief. In practice, issuers file on the pricing day or the following business morning; timely filing is typically a closing condition.

Important distinctions and edge cases

• Filer vs. seller. In a resale takedown, the selling securityholder is the economic seller; the issuer is the Rule 424 filer. Underwriters are disclosed within the supplement but never file it.
• Amendments. A 424B5 is itself a supplement, not a registration statement; corrective or updating disclosures appear as new 424B-series filings, not as "/A" amendments.
• WKSI automatic shelves. Automatic effectiveness under the WKSI regime does not change the 424B paragraph analysis; combined pricing/update supplements are still filed under Rule 424(b)(5).
• Foreign private issuers. F-3 filers use the same Rule 424(b)(5) mechanics; jurisdiction does not alter trigger or deadline.
• Investment Company Act registrants. Open-end funds (N-1A) file under Rule 497, not Rule 424, and are outside the dataset. Closed-end funds and BDCs on N-2 shelves can appear when their takedown supplements meet the combined (b)(2)/(b)(3) test.
• Historical coverage. Electronic coverage begins with the EDGAR mandatory-filing rollout (1993–1996); pre-EDGAR paper supplements filed under the same Rule 424(b) framework are not part of this dataset.

How This Dataset Differs From Similar Datasets or Filings

Form 424B5 sits within the Rule 424(b) prospectus family and is commonly confused with the other 424B variants, the shelf registration statement it draws from, and the 8-Ks and FWPs that surround the same takedown. The comparisons below focus on the nearest neighbors.

Other Rule 424(b) prospectus variants

Form 424B1 — Filed under Rule 424(b)(1) when the prospectus contains information omitted in reliance on Rule 430A (pricing for non-shelf offerings). 424B1 is the post-pricing prospectus for a traditional S-1 IPO or follow-on. 424B5 operates under Rule 430B on an already-effective S-3 or F-3 shelf. Rule of thumb: shelf takedowns appear as 424B2, 424B5, or 424B7; S-1 pricings appear as 424B1 or 424B4.

Form 424B2 — The closest neighbor. Both report shelf takedown terms; the differentiator is the scope of information previously omitted. 424B2 is used when the supplement adds only the Rule 430B pricing items (public offering price, underwriting discount, and terms dependent on those). It dominates MTN programs, ATM equity programs, and continuously offered structured notes. 424B5 is used when the supplement carries content beyond those narrow pricing items — typically a discrete underwritten takedown with its own plan of distribution, negotiated terms, and offering-specific risk factors. As a result, 424B2 skews toward large repeat debt and program issuers; 424B5 skews toward discrete follow-on equity, convertible, and debt deals.

Form 424B3 — Used to disclose substantive changes to, or additions of, information previously omitted, or to update an in-use prospectus for material developments. It does not price a new takedown and generally does not carry offering economics. Use 424B3 to track evolving disclosure on an outstanding prospectus; use 424B5 for pricing and terms of a specific takedown.

Form 424B4 — The 424B1 analog for cases where a material change has occurred since the last filed prospectus. Still a non-shelf, S-1-world filing. Pair 424B1 and 424B4 for IPO/S-1 pricing research; pair 424B2, 424B5, and 424B7 for shelf research.

Form 424B7 — Resale shelf takedowns by selling securityholders, typically off an S-3 resale registration. The issuer generally receives no proceeds, distribution is often through brokerage rather than firm underwriting, and named sellers are existing holders (PIPE investors, former M&A sellers, converted-note holders). 424B5 is almost always a primary issuance with underwriters and issuer proceeds. Use 424B7 for sponsor or insider exit studies; 424B5 for primary capital-raising studies.

Form 424B8 — Sticker supplements filed under Rule 424(b)(8), used almost exclusively by registered investment companies to update fund prospectuses. The filer populations are effectively disjoint from 424B5, which is filed by operating-company shelf issuers.

Upstream registration statement

Form S-3 / F-3 base prospectus — The effective registration whose existence is a prerequisite for any 424B5 (S-3 for domestic seasoned issuers, F-3 for foreign private issuers). The base prospectus defines the universe of registrable securities and incorporates periodic reports by reference; 424B5 layers the actual takedown — price, underwriters, transaction-specific terms — onto that framework. S-3/F-3 indicates shelf capacity and eligibility; 424B5 indicates actual utilization and pricing. The two datasets are complementary, not substitutable.

Adjacent offering communications

Free Writing Prospectus (FWP) — A separate written offering communication permitted under Rules 164 and 433. FWPs carry pricing term sheets, marketing decks, roadshow materials, and structured-note term sheets. They differ from 424B5 in legal status (permitted, not the statutory prospectus), content (often preliminary or promotional), and timing (frequently filed during marketing or at pricing). In MTN and structured-note contexts the FWP may carry the economically meaningful terms while the 424B2 or 424B5 carries the statutory wrapper; a full terms dataset often requires joining 424B5 with the deal's FWPs.

Investment Company Act analog

Form 497 / 497K — Prospectus and summary-prospectus filings by Investment Company Act registrants under Rule 497 of the Investment Company Act, not Securities Act Rule 424. Despite surface resemblance to 424 filings, they cover fund share offerings by a different filer population under a different rule. Exclude them from corporate issuance research; use them for fund prospectus research.

Event-driven companions

Form 8-K Item 8.01 (Other Events) — The typical vehicle for press-release-style announcements of pricing, launch, or closing of a shelf takedown, sometimes with the underwriting or purchase agreement attached. Overlaps with 424B5 in subject matter but is a current report, not a statutory prospectus, and carries different liability exposure.

Form 8-K Item 1.01 (Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement) — Used to disclose execution of the underwriting or purchase agreement, usually with the agreement as Exhibit 1.1 or 10.1. Captures contractual mechanics (indemnification, lock-ups, representations, closing conditions) that do not appear in the prospectus. A full view of a takedown typically requires 424B5 (statutory terms) plus the Item 1.01 8-K (contract) and often an Item 8.01 8-K (announcement).

Boundary summary

Form 424B5 is the statutory prospectus supplement for a shelf takedown that discloses information beyond the narrow Rule 430B pricing items reserved for 424B2. It is not the shelf registration itself (S-3/F-3), a resale takedown (424B7), a program pricing supplement (424B2), an S-1 pricing prospectus (424B1/B4), a disclosure update (424B3), a fund sticker (424B8), an offering communication (FWP), a fund prospectus (497/497K), or a current report (8-K). The dataset is the correct source for operating-company primary shelf takedowns — their pricing, underwriting structure, use of proceeds, and deal-specific risk disclosure — and is best combined with S-3/F-3, FWP, and 8-K data for a complete offering-level picture.

Who Uses This Dataset

Because a single 424B5 record bundles pricing, syndicate, use of proceeds, risk factors, the EX-1.1 underwriting agreement, the EX-5.1 legal opinion, and the EX-FILING FEES exhibit, different professional roles mine different slices of the same record.

ECM and DCM syndicate bankers

Origination and syndicate desks treat the dataset as a running ledger of takedown activity. They pull cover-page deal size, offering price, gross spread, and net proceeds; the Plan of Distribution for bookrunner and co-manager roles, greenshoe terms, and stabilization language; and EX-1.1 for stepped economics, lock-ups, and indemnification carve-outs. Output: internal league tables, pricing comps, and precedent structures for new overnight blocks, marketed follow-ons, ATMs, senior-note takedowns, and preferred issuances.

Sell-side and buy-side analysts

Equity and credit analysts read 424B5 as primary evidence of new supply in a covered name. Cover-page price and share count drive dilution and discount-to-last-trade math; use-of-proceeds distinguishes refinancing from M&A funding or liquidity backfill; updated risk factors flag new concerns. Credit analysts pull coupon, maturity, ranking, covenants, and call schedules from the prospectus body into leverage, coverage, and recovery models. Output: rating notes, target revisions, and rating changes triggered by issuance.

Convertible and preferred desks

Convertible, preferred, and structured-products desks price new convertibles, mandatory convertibles, preferreds, and depositary shares against the issuer's existing stack. They extract conversion price and ratio, coupon, dividend rate, call/put schedules, make-whole tables, change-of-control provisions, and any capped-call or bond-hedge disclosure from the prospectus body and EX-1.1. Output: theoretical values, relative-value trades, and hedge ratios on new-issue allocations.

Capital-formation researchers

Sector and strategy teams study shelf usage, ATM cadence, and SEO frequency by industry and size bucket. They combine metadata.json fields (filer CIK, filing date, subtype) with Plan of Distribution language to classify each takedown (overnight, marketed, ATM, block, registered direct, notes, preferred, convertible). Output: sector issuance notes, remaining-shelf-capacity estimates, and timing-versus-valuation studies.

Securities lawyers and disclosure counsel

Issuer's counsel, underwriter's counsel, and in-house securities lawyers mine the corpus for precedent. They search risk-factor drafting by deal type, Plan of Distribution conventions, FINRA 5110 language, and lock-up formulations. EX-1.1 supplies indemnification, contribution, conditions precedent, and MAC termination clauses; EX-5.1 supplies opinion scope, assumptions, qualifications, and state-law coverage. Output: faster drafting, market-standard benchmarks, and support for SEC comment-letter responses.

Treasury, corporate development, and IR at issuers

Teams at registrants with active shelves benchmark their own potential takedowns. They use peer cover-page pricing (discount to last sale, gross spread as a percent of proceeds), Plan of Distribution for typical syndicate shape at their size, and EX-FILING FEES to cross-check their own registration-fee math. IR teams use the same records to model market reaction and pre-draft dilution and use-of-proceeds talking points.

Quant and event-driven funds

Quant desks and event-driven funds build real-time issuance calendars and SEO event studies. Filing-date and acceptance-time stamps from metadata.json define clean event windows; cover-page price and share count feed dilution-shock features; the pricing-date-to-registration-date delta is a behavioral signal. Output: announcement-drift and post-deal reversion strategies, ATM-deployment detection from repeated small 424B5 filings by the same issuer, and short screens for serial dilutive takedowns.

PIPE and dilutive-finance trackers

Funds tracking dilutive follow-ons, registered directs, and PIPE-style resales flag small-cap issuers that repeatedly tap the market at deep discounts. They key on deal size versus market cap, discount to VWAP, warrant coverage in the Plan of Distribution, and selling-shareholder identity on registered resales tied to prior private placements. Output: toxic-financing watchlists, short candidates, and activist engagement targets.

Sell-side compliance and surveillance

Compliance and market-surveillance groups cross-reference 424B5 pricing-date and filing-date timestamps against internal blotters to detect front-running, selective disclosure, or information-barrier breaches. They pull precise stamps from metadata.json, stabilization language from the Plan of Distribution, and the underwriter roster from EX-1.1 to scope desks with potential inside information. Output: surveillance alerts, allocation best-execution reviews, and internal investigation files.

Regulators and academic researchers

Policy economists and academics studying capital formation, underwriter concentration, gross-spread trends, and shelf-registration practice use the full historical corpus. Structured metadata supports panel construction, cover-page economics feed gross-spread and discount time series, Plan of Distribution identifies underwriters, and EX-FILING FEES supplies clean registration-fee data. Output: working papers, regulatory impact assessments, and cost-of-capital studies.

Market-data vendors and new-issue platforms

Data engineers at market-data vendors, new-issue platforms, and fintech startups parse cover-page pricing, Plan of Distribution, EX-1.1 terms, and EX-FILING FEES into normalized deal records with consistent taxonomies for deal type, security type, syndicate hierarchy, and proceeds. Output: deal-terms terminals, league-table services, syndicate-allocation feeds, and RAG corpora for finance LLMs that need grounded citations to prospectus language.

M&A and fairness-opinion teams

M&A advisers and fairness committees reference 424B5 new-issue discounts to set going rates for equity raises tied to acquisitions, spin-offs, or stock-for-stock deals with concurrent offerings. They pull cover-page discount-to-last-sale and gross-spread data across comparable deals to support valuation schedules, negotiated financing terms, and board presentations on the financing package.

The same 424B5 record is read simultaneously by bankers for pricing comps, analysts for dilution signals, lawyers for precedent language, quants for event dates, compliance for surveillance evidence, and researchers for capital-formation trends. Each profession extracts a different slice of cover-page economics, Plan of Distribution, risk factors, use of proceeds, EX-1.1, EX-5.1, and EX-FILING FEES to drive its own workflow.

Specific Use Cases

Concrete workflows that different teams run against the Form 424B5 corpus, each keyed to specific parts of the record.

Building a follow-on pricing comp sheet

An ECM syndicate associate pulls every 424B5 filed in the last 24 months by issuers in a target sector and market-cap bucket. From each record they read the cover-page offering headline (share count, price to public, gross spread) and cross-reference it to the last reported sale price disclosed on the cover for discount-to-last-sale math, then pull bookrunner and co-manager roles and economic splits from the Plan of Distribution and EX-1.1. Output: a one-page comps sheet showing price, discount, gross spread as a percent of proceeds, and syndicate shape, used to anchor pricing conversations for a pitched overnight or marketed follow-on.

ATM program detection and deployment tracking

A quant desk scans metadata.json across a universe of small- and mid-cap issuers for repeated 424B5 accessions under the same entities[].fileNo shelf. Records with Plan of Distribution language referencing Rule 415(a)(4), a named sales agent, and a stated commission rate are flagged as ATM takedowns; the cover-page "Up to $X" aggregate and filing timestamps build a deployment timeline per issuer. Output: a live ATM-program watchlist with capacity remaining, average filing cadence, and a short signal for issuers repeatedly refiling to expand program size.

Convertible-note term extraction for relative-value pricing

A convertible desk parses the "Description of the Notes" section of every convertible 424B5 along with the companion EX-1.1 purchase agreement. They extract coupon, maturity, conversion price and ratio, make-whole table, provisional-call threshold, change-of-control provisions, and any capped-call or bond-hedge disclosure. Output: a normalized convertible-terms database feeding theoretical values, credit-spread implieds, and screening for mispriced new issues against outstanding comparable paper.

Precedent-language library for issuer's counsel

A securities lawyer drafting risk factors and Plan of Distribution for a biotech ATM pulls the Risk Factors and Plan of Distribution sections from 424B5 filings by peer biotechs that used the same sales agent, together with the corresponding EX-5.1 legality opinions. Searches focus on ATM-specific dilution risk language, Rule 415(a)(4) mechanics, FINRA 5110 conflicts disclosures, and the scope-and-assumptions block of EX-5.1. Output: a marked-up precedent binder and clause bank that cuts first-draft time and supports responses to SEC comment letters.

Dilution-shock event study for a long-short book

An event-driven analyst uses filedAt timestamps from metadata.json as clean event anchors and the cover-page share count divided by pre-deal shares outstanding as a dilution-magnitude feature. They overlay the Use of Proceeds classification (debt paydown vs. R&D vs. general corporate) as a regressor. Output: a post-deal reversion model that sizes short entries into serial dilutive issuers and long entries into deals where proceeds fund accretive refinancing, backtested across the historical corpus.

Registration-fee audit and shelf-capacity reconciliation

A treasury team at an active shelf issuer pulls its own and peers' EX-FILING FEES exhibits and parses the inline-XBRL Calculation of Filing Fee Tables for amount registered, maximum aggregate offering price, fee rate, and any carry-forward fees previously paid. They reconcile cumulative takedown dollars against the S-3 shelf authorization identified by entities[].fileNo. Output: a remaining-shelf-capacity dashboard, a cross-check of the in-house fee calculation before the next takedown, and an early-warning flag when capacity is nearing exhaustion and an S-3 refresh is needed.

Underwriter league tables and syndicate concentration studies

A capital-markets strategist extracts the underwriter roster and economic allocations from every 424B5 Plan of Distribution and EX-1.1 across a calendar year, joined to cover-page deal size. Deals are bucketed by security type (common, preferred, convertible, senior notes) and distribution method (overnight, marketed, ATM, block). Output: quarterly league tables ranking bookrunners by proceeds and deal count, Herfindahl concentration metrics by sector, and a ranked view of which agents dominate each ATM size tier — feeding pitch materials and competitive-intelligence briefings.

Dataset Access

The Form 424B5 Files Dataset is available through three access methods: a public JSON index for discovery and monitoring, a full archive download, and direct access to individual monthly container files. Downloads are authenticated with your sec-api.io API key passed as the token query parameter.

Dataset Index JSON API: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-424b5-files.json

This endpoint returns dataset metadata and the full list of container files. It includes the dataset name, description, last updated timestamp, earliest sample date, total records, total size, form types covered, container format, content file types, and a containers array with the download URL, key, size, record count, and updated timestamp for each monthly archive. Use this endpoint to enumerate available containers and to monitor which containers changed in the most recent refresh, so downstream pipelines can download only the updated containers day by day. This endpoint does not require an API key.

Example response:

          1
          {
        

          2
            "datasetId": "1f13365b-9ae0-68e5-afa4-c070fd82ced9",
        

          3
            "datasetDownloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-424b5-files.zip",
        

          4
            "name": "Form 424B5 Files Dataset",
        

          5
            "updatedAt": "2026-04-23T02:56:28.206Z",
        

          6
            "earliestSampleDate": "1994-01-01",
        

          7
            "totalRecords": 79131,
        

          8
            "totalSize": 8363031602,
        

          9
            "formTypes": ["424B5"],
        

          10
            "containerFormat": "ZIP",
        

          11
            "fileTypes": ["TXT", "JSON", "HTML", "PDF"],
        

          12
            "containers": [
        

          13
              {
        

          14
                "downloadUrl": "https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-424b5-files/2026/2026-04.zip",
        

          15
                "key": "2026/2026-04.zip",
        

          16
                "size": 13818783,
        

          17
                "records": 154,
        

          18
                "updatedAt": "2026-04-23T02:56:28.206Z"
        

          19
              }
        

          20
            ]
        

          21
          }
        

Download Entire Dataset: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-424b5-files.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Downloads the complete dataset as a single ZIP archive containing every 424B5 filing from 1994-01-01 through the latest refresh. This endpoint requires a valid sec-api.io API key.

Download Single Container: https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-424b5-files/2026/2026-04.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY

Downloads one monthly container ZIP file (YYYY-MM.zip), which is useful for incremental syncing or backfilling a specific month without transferring the full archive. This endpoint requires a valid sec-api.io API key.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Form 424B5?

Form 424B5 is a final-terms prospectus filed under Rule 424(b)(5) of the Securities Act of 1933. It is used when a shelf takedown from an already-effective Form S-3, F-3, or N-2 registration both supplies pricing and offering-specific terms that were omitted from the base prospectus under Rule 430B and substantively updates the base prospectus (for example, by incorporating a new periodic report or describing a new series of preferred stock or notes).

What does one record in this dataset represent?

One record corresponds to a single EDGAR accession — one complete 424B5 submission filed by one registrant on one day under one SEC file number. On disk, each record is a folder named after the 18-digit accession number (hyphens stripped) containing metadata.json plus every non-image document from the original EDGAR submission.

What does a 424B5 ZIP container include, and what is excluded?

Each monthly ZIP container holds one folder per 424B5 accession. Every folder includes metadata.json plus every non-image document from the original EDGAR submission — the primary 424B5 prospectus supplement and any exhibits such as EX-1.1 (underwriting or sales agreement), EX-5.1 (legality opinion), EX-23.1 (auditor's consent), EX-FILING FEES (Exhibit 107), and occasional additional exhibits. Image files (EDGAR document type GRAPHIC) are deliberately excluded from disk, but they remain fully enumerated in metadata.json with absolute SEC.gov URLs. The base prospectus, the Form S-3/F-3 registration statement, and the periodic reports the supplement incorporates by reference are not included — those live in their own EDGAR accessions.

How does Form 424B5 differ from Form 424B2?

Both are shelf takedown prospectuses, and they are the closest neighbors in the 424B family. The differentiator is the scope of information previously omitted from the base prospectus. 424B2 is used when the supplement adds only the narrow Rule 430B pricing items (public offering price, underwriting discount, and dependent terms) and dominates MTN programs, ATM equity programs, and continuously offered structured notes. 424B5 is used when the supplement carries content beyond those narrow pricing items — typically a discrete underwritten takedown with its own plan of distribution, negotiated terms, and offering-specific risk factors or an updated base prospectus.

What triggers a 424B5 filing and when is it due?

A 424B5 is event-driven, not periodic. It is filed each time an issuer prices a discrete shelf takedown whose supplement both (i) supplies Rule 430B-omitted terms and (ii) substantively updates the base prospectus. Under Rule 424(b), the supplement must be filed no later than the second business day following the earlier of the date it is first used or the date the public offering price is determined; in practice, issuers file on the pricing day or the following business morning.

What time period does the dataset cover?

The dataset includes all Form 424B5 filings submitted to EDGAR from January 1, 1994 through the latest refresh. Pre-EDGAR paper supplements filed under the same Rule 424(b) framework are not part of the dataset.

What file formats are in the dataset?

Across its full history, the dataset contains HTML, TXT, PDF, and JSON files, packaged in monthly ZIP containers. JSON is reserved for the single metadata.json per folder. HTML is the dominant content format for modern records; TXT appears for very early filings during the ASCII/SGML era of EDGAR; PDF occurs as an occasional supplemental courtesy copy.

How do I subscribe to new 424B5 filings in real time?

The public dataset index at https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-424b5-files.json lists every monthly container with its current size, record count, and updatedAt timestamp. Polling the index and comparing updatedAt per container lets downstream pipelines detect which containers changed in the most recent refresh and download only those monthly ZIPs (for example, the current month's YYYY-MM.zip) rather than transferring the full archive. Each individual container is fetched via https://api.sec-api.io/datasets/form-424b5-files/YYYY/YYYY-MM.zip?token=YOUR_API_KEY.