What are Trading Hotkeys?

Trading Hotkeys are keyboard shortcuts in TopstepX that let you place orders, manage an open position, and adjust component settings without using your mouse. You create your own key combinations in the platform settings, then turn them on for each component where you want to use them.

A hotkey is a keyboard combination you assign to a specific platform action. Once assigned and enabled, pressing that combination performs the action directly instead of requiring you to click through a component.

Hotkeys cover two kinds of actions. Some send orders or act on your position, such as Buy Market or Close Position. Others change what a component displays, such as centering a chart on the last traded price. You decide which actions you want, and you decide which keys are assigned to them.

Hotkeys do not change how orders are handled once they are submitted. They change only how you submit them.

Your saved hotkeys are stored in your settings, so they stay in place for future sessions.

Saving a hotkey makes it available, but it does not switch it on everywhere at once. Hotkeys are enabled per component window.

To turn them on, select the "H" icon near the top left of the component window where you want to use them. Once enabled on that component, your saved hotkeys are active while you are working in it.

This design is intentional. It lets you keep hotkeys active in a component you trade from while leaving them off in components where you only want to look at data.

The following actions currently have a hotkey available.

Order entry

Position and order management

Order size

Display

This article will be updated as additional Hotkey options become available.

Hotkeys only register when the browser window running TopstepX is the active window. If you click into another application, another browser window, or a separate tab, your key presses go to that window instead and the hotkey will not fire. Click back into the platform to restore focus.

Order hotkeys act immediately. Actions such as Buy Market, Sell Market, Close Position, and Flatten All are submitted as soon as you press the assigned keys. There is no additional confirmation step. Clients should exercise caution, choose combinations they are unlikely to press by accident, and be deliberate about which components they enable hotkeys on.

Verify the result in your order and position windows. Your order and position data in TopstepX is the record of your account activity. After using a hotkey, confirm the outcome there rather than relying on a single component view.

Test your setup before you rely on it. Reviewing your assignments and confirming each one behaves the way you expect helps you avoid pressing the wrong key when you are focused on the market.

Hotkeys are an execution tool. They do not indicate when to enter or exit a position, and they do not manage risk on your behalf. All order and risk decisions remain yours.

If you have questions about setting up Trading Hotkeys or if a hotkey is not behaving the way you expect, contact the Support Team and we'll be happy to help.