Introduction to cTrader Hotkeys
Nothing is more important than being able to respond quickly to fast-moving financial markets. Perhaps most important for trading forex, where volatility is common, leverage is high and big gains and losses can happen in split seconds. Not only do you need an interface that gives you information clearly and effectively, but you also need intuitive controls to react to that information. cTrader deserves merit for achieving both of those objectives. In this guide, we take a look at cTrader Hotkeys. If you need quick reactions then being able to trade forex with your keyboard is a must. cTrader offers keyboard short cuts that allow you to quickly perform a variety of tasks instead of using the mouse to point and click.
Shortcuts Available in cTrader
cTrader offers a variety of keyboard shortcuts to make trading more intuitive. To find the full list of available keyboard shortcuts, open the Settings window in cTrader Desktop or cTrader Web. Most of the cTrader Hotkeys are for changing the application layout and chart properties as opposed to opening, closing and modifying orders and positions. There are some minor differences between the web version and the desktop version, those differences will be highlighted. Let’s explore what is available.
- Open the New Order window by pressing “F9“. The selected symbol will correspond with the active chart.
- Zoom-in and zoom-out of an active chart by using the “+” or “-” (plus or minus) keys.
- Scroll through chart history easier and faster than using the middle mouse wheel by using “Page Up” to go back in time (scroll to the left) and “Page Down” to move forward in time (scroll to the right).
- Go to the oldest available chart data by pressing “Home” and go to the newest chart data by pressing “End”.
- Nudge the chart data to the left or right by using the Arrow Keys. On cTrader Web the chart will be nudged by two Trendbars to either the left or the right. On cTrader Desktop the chart will be nudged by one Trendbar.
- Toggle between timeframes by using the up and down Arrow Keys.
- Switch chart types. Press “Ctrl+1” to switch to a Bar Chart. Press “Ctrl+2” to switch to a Candlestick chart. Press “Ctrl+3” to switch to a Line Chart.
- Show or hide certain chart elements. Press “Ctrl+b” to show or hide the Bid line. Press “Ctrl+a” to show or hide the Ask line. Press “Ctrl+g” to show or hide the grid on the chart.
- Switch platform viewing modes. Press “F11” to toggle full-screen mode. Press “F2” to toggle through the three different chart modes. Press “F3” to toggle through the three layout modes.
- Delete selected chart objects such as indicators or trendlines by pressing the “Delete” key.
- Specifically for cTrader Web, “Ctrl+s” will show or hide the Active Symbol Panel (ASP).
Custom Hotkeys in cTrader Desktop
The Desktop Version of cTrader offers a few additional keyboard shortcuts. Because of the presence of cTrader Automate, some additional hotkeys are available for building trading robots. On the desktop version, you can customize hotkeys for each command. This is something not available on cTrader Web.
It’s easy to customize the keyboard shortcuts in cTrader Desktop. Go to Settings and find “Hotkeys” on the menu. Here you will see a long list of options. Simply click inside of the box showing the current key or key combination, then select the key or combination you want to replace the current one. The only restriction is that you cannot use a key that is already in use. If you see an error, look for where the key may already be in use and change that one first.
Additional keyboard shortcuts available on cTrader Desktop are;
- Customize the font size in the platform by pressing Ctrl and the plus (+) key to increase the font size. Press Ctrl and the minus (-) key to decrease it. Press Ctrl and zero to reset the font size.
- Show and hide the Marker Snapshot tool by pressing “Ctrl+d”.
- Show and hide the Crosshair tool by pressing “Ctrl+c”. This is useful if you are trading on a laptop and do not have Middle Mouse Button.
If you have a hunger to know more about the cTrader platform, check the Guides section. It’s packed with detailed instructions on how to use cTrader.
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