diff --git a/ui/src/components/OperationPanel.jsx b/ui/src/components/OperationPanel.jsx
index a033f50..723f8af 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/OperationPanel.jsx
+++ b/ui/src/components/OperationPanel.jsx
@@ -61,11 +61,13 @@ function Block({ title, hint, horizontal, grow, children }) {
   )
 }
 
-function Button({ onClick, active, children, title }) {
+function Button({ onClick, active, children, title, disabled }) {
   return (
-    <button onClick={onClick} title={title}
+    <button onClick={onClick} title={title} disabled={disabled}
       className={`px-3 py-1 rounded text-xs whitespace-nowrap transition-colors ${
-        active ? 'bg-blue-600 text-white' : 'bg-white text-gray-700 hover:bg-gray-50'}`}>
+        disabled
+          ? (active ? 'bg-gray-300 text-white cursor-default' : 'bg-white text-gray-400 cursor-default')
+          : (active ? 'bg-blue-600 text-white' : 'bg-white text-gray-700 hover:bg-gray-50')}`}>
       {children}
     </button>
   )
@@ -99,11 +101,16 @@ function SectionLabel({ children }) {
   )
 }
 
-function Segmented({ options, value, onChange }) {
+// `disabled` keeps the control in place and shows which way it is set rather
+// than removing it. A control that vanishes reads as broken; one that greys out
+// says the choice has been made elsewhere.
+function Segmented({ options, value, onChange, disabled }) {
   return (
-    <div className="inline-flex rounded border border-gray-200 overflow-hidden w-auto self-start">
+    <div className={`inline-flex rounded border overflow-hidden w-auto self-start ${
+      disabled ? 'border-gray-200 bg-gray-50' : 'border-gray-200'}`}>
       {options.map(([val, label, title]) => (
-        <Button key={val} onClick={() => onChange(val)} active={value === val} title={title}>{label}</Button>
+        <Button key={val} onClick={() => onChange(val)} active={value === val}
+          title={title} disabled={disabled}>{label}</Button>
       ))}
     </div>
   )
@@ -731,6 +738,34 @@ function ScaleLedger({ currentTotals, scaleInputs, setScaleInputs, scalePlug, se
     ? (scalePlug === 'price' ? 'units' : 'price')
     : null
 
+  // Which measure is absorbing the change, whether or not the toggle chose it.
+  //
+  // The toggle used to be rendered only while the edit was dollars-only, so it
+  // was absent before anything was typed and disappeared the moment a measure
+  // was pinned -- including by a click, since clicking a cell pins whatever it
+  // reads. Two different states both looked like the control was missing, and
+  // an accidental click into the qty column had no visible effect except that
+  // the control went away. It now stays put in every state and greys out when
+  // the inputs have already answered it, which they genuinely have:
+  //   qty pinned   -> price is what moves
+  //   price pinned -> qty is what moves
+  // so the inert control still shows the truth rather than a stale choice.
+  const plugState = (() => {
+    if (!(valueCol && unitsCol)) return null
+    const u = filled('units'), p = filled('price'), v = filled('value')
+    if (u && p)  return { value: null,      live: false, why: 'Both qty and price are named, so the dollars follow from them.' }
+    if (u)       return { value: 'price',   live: false, why: `${unitsCol} is pinned, so price absorbs the change.`, unpin: 'units' }
+    if (p)       return { value: 'volume',  live: false, why: `Price is pinned, so ${unitsCol} absorbs the change.`, unpin: 'price' }
+    if (!v)      return { value: null,      live: false, why: 'Applies to a dollar figure entered on its own — nothing else names price or qty.' }
+    return {
+      value: scalePlug,
+      live:  true,
+      why:   scalePlug === 'price'
+        ? `${unitsCol} holds; price moves to reach the number.`
+        : `Price holds; ${unitsCol} scales with the dollars.`,
+    }
+  })()
+
   const numCell = 'text-right font-mono tabular-nums whitespace-nowrap px-2'
   const rule    = <td className="p-0"><div className="border-t border-gray-300 my-1" /></td>
 
@@ -909,27 +944,37 @@ function ScaleLedger({ currentTotals, scaleInputs, setScaleInputs, scalePlug, se
         </tbody>
       </table>
 
-      {/* A dollar figure on its own does not say whether price or volume moved.
-          Only ask once the edit is actually dollars-only -- naming units or price
-          has already answered it, and the control would just be noise. */}
+      {/* A dollar figure on its own does not say whether price or volume moved,
+          so the toggle answers for it. Kept visible even when it is not the one
+          answering -- see plugState -- because a control that comes and goes
+          reads as a fault, and its absence was the only sign that a stray click
+          had pinned a measure. */}
       {/* Both of these are settings on the edit, so they use Field like every
           other one -- an aligned label column and a hint below the control.
           They used to hand-roll their own label row and hint, with two
           different type sizes and no shared label width, so the two stacked
           into a paragraph of loose words rather than reading as two settings. */}
-      {(valueCol && unitsCol && dollarsOnly || hasExcl || perSlice) && (
+      {(plugState || hasExcl || perSlice) && (
         <div className="flex flex-col gap-2 mt-3 pt-3 border-t border-gray-100">
 
-          {valueCol && unitsCol && dollarsOnly && (
-            <Field label="Absorbed by">
+          {plugState && (
+            <Field label="Absorbed by" hint={plugState.why}>
               <Segmented
-                value={scalePlug}
+                value={plugState.value}
                 onChange={setScalePlug}
+                disabled={!plugState.live}
                 options={[
                   ['price',  'Price',  `${unitsCol} holds; price moves to reach the number`],
                   ['volume', 'Volume', `Price holds; ${unitsCol} scales with the dollars`],
                 ]}
               />
+              {plugState.unpin && (
+                <button onClick={() => clearEdit(plugState.unpin)}
+                  title={`Stop pinning ${plugState.unpin === 'units' ? unitsCol : 'price'} and choose here instead`}
+                  className="text-blue-600 hover:underline">
+                  unpin {plugState.unpin === 'units' ? unitsCol : 'price'}
+                </button>
+              )}
             </Field>
           )}