By Scalpel Team. . 11 min read.
In short
TWS hotkeys live in Global Configuration > Hotkeys (open it from the File menu in Mosaic or the Edit menu in Classic TWS). Pick an action such as Buy, click Create Shortcut, record a key, then use the Customize tab to set a limit order priced off the ask plus a few cents and tick Transmit the order instantaneously. Put your default size, time in force and the outside regular hours box in Presets > Stock, select the stock's row before you press, and test every key in a paper account first.
Most traders who give up on TWS hotkeys set them up halfway: the key is recorded, but the order waits for a click, prices off the wrong side of the book, sits until 09:30 because the outside regular hours box was never ticked, or goes to whichever stock was selected last. This guide is the full setup for a fast, long-only scalper: the settings each key depends on, a five-key set with exact options, the precautions that keep a fat finger from hurting you, and a cheat sheet to print.
Everything here was checked against IBKR's own TWS hot keys guide and IBKR Campus lessons on October 15, 2026. Scalpel is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Interactive Brokers.
Hotkeys and the order presets they lean on are both in Global Configuration. Mosaic and Classic are two layouts of the same TWS, and only the menu that opens it differs:
| Layout | Path |
|---|---|
| Mosaic | File > Global Configuration > Hotkeys |
| Classic TWS | Edit > Global Configuration > Hotkeys |
The Hotkeys page has the list of Possible Actions at the top and your Configured Shortcuts at the bottom. Some actions are hidden until you tick Show Hidden Actions in the top right, and the search box finds an action by name. IBKR groups them into categories such as Create Orders, Modify/Transmit Orders and Cancel Orders (IBKR Campus: Configuring TWS Hotkeys).
A hotkey works the moment you click Apply and OK. There is no restart.
A Buy or Sell hotkey whose size is set to Default takes its size from your order presets, and the presets also decide the time in force and whether the order may fill outside regular hours. Set them before you record a single key.
Open Global Configuration > Presets and click Stock. Click All Possible Fields at the top if a field below is missing (IBKR Campus: Configuring TWS Presets).
| Section | Setting | Scalper's value | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timing | Time in Force | DAY | An entry that did not fill today should not wake up tomorrow |
| Timing | Allow order to be activated, triggered, or filled outside of regular trading hours | Ticked | Without it, a pre-market order waits until 09:30 ET |
| Size | Quantity | Your standard clip, for example 500, unit Shares | This is what a key set to Default size buys |
| Primary Order | Order type | Limit | US exchanges take only limit orders outside regular hours |
| Precautionary Settings | Share and dollar limits | A little above your largest normal order | A typo triggers a warning; your routine orders do not |
Leave the price itself to each hotkey's Customize tab (below), so the buy key prices off the ask and the sell key off the bid. Presets can also be set per ticker: click Ticker at the bottom left of the Stock page and enter the symbol. A per-ticker preset beats the general one for that stock only.
File > Global Configuration in Mosaic, or Edit > Global Configuration in Classic, then Hotkeys in the left pane.
Select Buy under Create Orders and click Create Shortcut. A dialog opens with a Shortcuts tab and a Customize tab.
On the Shortcuts tab, click Record and press the combination. TWS accepts any single key, or Ctrl or Shift with one of the 26 letters. Alt is reserved and is rejected with an error.
On the Customize tab, set Order Type to LMT, the limit price to Ask with an offset of 0.05, and Size to Default. Size also offers Absolute (a fixed share count typed here) and Available (the size currently shown on the ask or bid).
At the bottom of the Customize tab, Transmit the order instantaneously sends the order the moment you press the key. Unticked, the key only builds the order and leaves it for you to transmit. A key that transmits instantly shows an asterisk next to its name. Leave it unticked for your first paper sessions, then tick it once the key does exactly what you expect.
Click Apply and OK. The key is live at once and appears in Configured Shortcuts. IBKR has no hotkey test mode, so press it in a paper trading login on a liquid stock and read the order that comes out.
These are the TWS hotkey actions that matter for a long-only scalper, with IBKR's own descriptions (TWS hotkey actions):
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Buy | Creates a buy order for the selected stock, with the order type, price, size and transmit option from Customize |
| Sell | The same on the sell side |
| Close Position | Creates an opposite-side order for the whole position in the selected stock. Manual transmit by default; can be set to transmit instantly in Customize |
| Close Portion of Positions | Opens a pane to close a percentage of your positions, filtered by asset class and long or short |
| Cancel All Orders | Cancels every working order in TWS |
| Cancel Contract's Orders | Cancels the working orders for one stock |
| Increase / Decrease price or size | Nudges the limit price or size of the selected order by a number of ticks: handy to chase or pull a resting limit |
| Transmit Order | Sends the selected order you built but did not transmit, for keys left on manual transmit |
Five keys cover a long-only scalp: in, out half, out all, everything out, and cancel. The keys below are suggestions chosen to avoid common copy and paste combinations. If one already does something in your layout, record another.
| Key | Action | Customize | Transmit instantly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+B | Buy | LMT, Ask + 0.05, Size Default (500), TIF DAY | Ticked |
| Ctrl+D | Sell (half) | LMT, Bid - 0.05, Size Absolute 250, TIF DAY | Ticked |
| Ctrl+E | Close Position (all) | Check on paper which order type and price it sends in your build | Ticked |
| Ctrl+F | Close Portion of Positions (flatten) | 100%, all positions; pick the order type in the pane | Opens a pane and asks you to confirm |
| Ctrl+K | Cancel All Orders | None | Acts at once |
Some notes on why it is set up this way:
TWS hotkeys act on the selected stock, not on the one you are looking at. IBKR's own descriptions say "the selected asset" and "the selected contract" for a reason. Before every press:
Our TWS day trading layout shows a Mosaic layout built around this, with one selected stock driving every panel.
With instant transmit ticked, a hotkey should send without a dialog. Two things can still stop it:
If a key does nothing at all, our checklist for IBKR hotkeys not working goes through every cause one by one.
Outside regular trading hours, US exchanges accept limit orders only, so every key that trades before 09:30 ET must send a limit with a price (pre-market). Check three things:
The one thing no setting fixes: a stop order attached in TWS does not trigger outside regular hours on US stocks, so your pre-market trade has no automatic protection. More on that in why your stop did not trigger in the pre-market.
Print it, with your own keys filled in.
| Key | Action | Sends | Before you press |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+B | Buy | LMT at ask + 0.05, preset size, outside RTH | Stock row selected |
| Ctrl+D | Sell half | LMT at bid - 0.05, 250 shares | You hold at least 250 |
| Ctrl+E | Close position | Whole position in the selected stock | Position row selected |
| Ctrl+F | Flatten | Closes 100% of positions after you confirm | Expect a pane and a warning |
| Ctrl+K | Cancel all | Cancels every working order | Also cancels other stocks' orders |
| Ctrl+H | Hotkey list | Shows your keys (reported in recent builds) | None |
TWS hotkeys are good at turning one key into one order. A scalper usually wants more from that keypress:
None of this makes TWS a bad choice. It is free with the account, it trades stocks, options and futures, it can short, and its stops rest at the broker, so they work during regular hours even if your computer is off. If those matter more to you than speed, stay with TWS.
Scalpel is a keyboard-first desktop cockpit that trades your own IBKR account through TWS or IB Gateway with the API enabled. Its hotkeys are built for the long-only small-cap scalp, and each key fires on the focused desk (the one with the blue outline), with a spoken confirmation. Here is the TWS set above next to Scalpel's defaults:
| Job | TWS (this guide) | Scalpel default |
|---|---|---|
| Buy | Ctrl+B, one size from presets | Shift+1 to Shift+4, four presets sized by shares, dollars or risk, at the ask plus your buy offset |
| Sell half | Ctrl+D, a fixed 250 shares | Ctrl+X, half the position rounded down, at the bid |
| Sell a quarter | Close Portion of Positions at 25%, then confirm | Ctrl+C |
| Sell half into strength | Not built in | Ctrl+A at the ask, Ctrl+S at the mid |
| Sell all | Ctrl+E, Close Position on the selected row | Ctrl+Z, the whole position at the bid |
| Flatten everything | Close Portion of Positions, then confirm | Esc with nothing open flattens every position on every desk |
| Cancel | Ctrl+K, every order in TWS | Ctrl+Q (Shift+Q on a Mac), the focused desk's symbol |
| Stop to breakeven | Not built in | B |
| Trailing stop on or off | Add Auto Trailing Stop Order on the selected order, regular hours only | Shift+T |
The difference is in what happens around the keypress. A risk preset works out the shares the moment you fire, from the live price and the stop distance (sizing presets). The stop and take-profit arm themselves on the fill, and you move them by dragging the line on the chart. They are app-monitored, not resting orders: when price trades through the stop, Scalpel sends a sell limit 5 cents under the last trade with the outside regular hours flag set, which the exchange accepts in the pre-market. The trade-off is plain: they only work while Scalpel runs with a live feed, and no fill is guaranteed.
Rebinding is one click on the key and one press in Settings > Hotkeys. To run a whole trade without the mouse, see the keyboard-only workflow.
Whichever tool you use, build the keys in paper first: hotkeys make bad trades faster too. For the rest of the setup, from market data to commissions, start with day trading on Interactive Brokers.
Trading carries a significant risk of loss. Nothing here is financial advice.