Guide 11.8
Intermediate, 4 min read. Checked with Scalpel 1.12.8 on .
In short
The Hotkeys tab lists Scalpel's 13 rebindable trading actions with their keys: Shift+1 to 4 buy, Ctrl+Z sells the whole position at the bid, B moves the stop to breakeven, and so on. To rebind one, click its key, press the new combination and click Apply. Esc (flatten everything) and Enter are fixed and cannot be rebound.
Trading keys only fire when no text field has focus, so typing a symbol never places an order. Open Settings (Ctrl+,) and pick Hotkeys.
| Action | Default key | What it does for your trading |
|---|---|---|
| Buy preset 1 | Shift+1 | Buys with preset 1 from the Sizing tab, as a marketable limit. |
| Buy preset 2 | Shift+2 | Buys with preset 2. |
| Buy preset 3 | Shift+3 | Buys with preset 3. |
| Buy preset 4 | Shift+4 | Buys with preset 4. |
| Sell full (bid) | Ctrl+Z | Sells the whole position at the bid, less your sell offset. |
| Sell half (bid) | Ctrl+X | Sells half at the bid. |
| Sell quarter (bid) | Ctrl+C | Sells a quarter at the bid. |
| Sell half (ask) | Ctrl+A | Offers half at the ask and waits for a buyer. |
| Sell half (mid) | Ctrl+S | Offers half at the mid. |
| Stop to breakeven | B | Moves the working stop to your entry. |
| Toggle trailing stop | Shift+T | Turns trailing on or off for the position (Stops tab sets how it trails). |
| Cancel all orders | Ctrl+Q (Shift+Q on a Mac) | Cancels working orders on the focused desk. |
| Toggle cheatsheet | ? (Shift+/) | Shows every key on screen. |
Every trading key acts on the focused desk. On a Mac, Ctrl is Cmd throughout, except Cancel all orders, which is Shift+Q because Cmd+Q quits a Mac app; a Cmd+Q binding from an older version moves to Shift+Q by itself. Entries and exits are blocked while the market is closed (overnight, weekends and holidays); breakeven, trailing, cancel and Flatten All (Esc) still work. Buys are also blocked while the stock is halted. Working through a whole trade from the keyboard is in guide 14: trade without touching the mouse.
Its button lights up and reads Press a key. Click it again to back out.
A letter, digit or punctuation key, on its own or with Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac), Shift or both. The button shows it, for example Ctrl+Shift+B. If another action had that combination, it loses it and shows Unbound: give it a new key too.
Or press Enter. The new keys work at once and are saved. Cancel or Esc throws the changes away.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Esc | Closes whatever is open first: the cheatsheet, Settings, a panel's settings, or the symbol suggestion list. With nothing open, it flattens every position on every desk, like the header's Flatten All. |
| Enter | Applies Settings when it is open, exactly like Apply; otherwise loads the highlighted symbol. |
| Ctrl+, | Opens and closes Settings. |
| Ctrl+-, Ctrl+=, Ctrl+0 | Zoom out, zoom in, back to 100%. |
| Left, Right, Tab | Move the focus between desks. |
| Up, Down | Move through the symbol suggestions. |
Arrow keys, function keys, Space and Alt combinations cannot be bound: a hotkey is always a character key, with Ctrl and Shift as the only modifiers.