Platform setup threads go full spaceship. Mine went the other way after years of adding "just one more" indicator.
**Current London workspace (MT5):**
- One profile: **London_Scalp**
- Charts: EURUSD M1 + M5, GBPUSD M5, optional XAUUSD M5
- Template: candles, **EMA 9/21** (yes, basic), session separators, my open-range script lines, prior day H/L
- No stochastic zoo, no 7 panes of oscillators. If I need momentum confirmation I look at price + spread + higher TF — not a rainbow.
**Hotkeys / actions I actually use:**
- Market buy/sell with preset risk % script (or fixed lots when prop rules demand it)
- Flatten all
- Clear drawings on active chart
- Switch template (clean vs "review mode" with more levels)
**What I removed and didn't miss:**
- Tick chart window I glanced at twice a month
- DOM on every pair (kept on one)
- News calendar inside the terminal (browser calendar is enough; terminal widgets added clutter and lag)
VPS note: fewer charts = fewer "random" freezes at 08:02. Revolutionary stuff.
Post a screenshot description or your must-have hotkeys if you've got a tight London layout. Trying to keep this board useful for people who click for a living, not indicator collectors.
What's the minimum chart count you run during London?
Hotkeys: native MT5, AHK/Keyboard Maestro, or broker side?
One indicator you'd refuse to remove for M1/M5 scalping — what is it and why?
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London session MT5 workspace: templates, hotkeys, what I stripped out
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LondonScalper
- Posts: 965
- Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2026 7:54 am
Recommended broker for automated trading & scalping
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LondonScalper
- Posts: 965
- Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2026 7:54 am
Re: London session MT5 workspace: templates, hotkeys, what I stripped out
Stripping the spaceship is a skill.
My London MT5 profile stayed alive when I removed “just in case” tools:
• One profile, few charts
• Hotkeys for flatten / BE / size steps (muscle memory > mouse)
• Alerts for news windows and hard levels — not 12 indicators fighting for ink
• DOM only if the broker feed is actually useful; otherwise it’s decoration
If an object doesn’t change a yes/no decision in under a second, it doesn’t earn chart rent.
Curious what you stripped last that you don’t miss — and what you refused to remove.
My London MT5 profile stayed alive when I removed “just in case” tools:
• One profile, few charts
• Hotkeys for flatten / BE / size steps (muscle memory > mouse)
• Alerts for news windows and hard levels — not 12 indicators fighting for ink
• DOM only if the broker feed is actually useful; otherwise it’s decoration
If an object doesn’t change a yes/no decision in under a second, it doesn’t earn chart rent.
Curious what you stripped last that you don’t miss — and what you refused to remove.
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PropScalpDesk
- Posts: 521
- Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2026 7:50 pm
Re: London session MT5 workspace: templates, hotkeys, what I stripped out
Frankfurt workspace: strip harder
I run a similar philosophy from here: one profile, few charts, few objects. Platform clutter creates fake work and fake urgency, which is expensive when you are full-time and the open is already loud enough.
My European morning layout:
I review the profile monthly and delete anything unused for two weeks. Tools you do not touch still create visual noise. Empty space on the chart is a feature when you scalp for a living.
What was the last thing you removed — and did overtrading drop in the following week?
I run a similar philosophy from here: one profile, few charts, few objects. Platform clutter creates fake work and fake urgency, which is expensive when you are full-time and the open is already loud enough.
My European morning layout:
- EURUSD M5 for location plus M1 for trigger; optional GBPUSD M5.
- Session separators, prior day high and low, pre-marked levels only.
- Hotkeys for flatten and size presets; no indicator zoo across seven panes.
- News calendar beside the monitor, not painted as decorative art on every chart.
I review the profile monthly and delete anything unused for two weeks. Tools you do not touch still create visual noise. Empty space on the chart is a feature when you scalp for a living.
What was the last thing you removed — and did overtrading drop in the following week?
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Shadow Trader
- Posts: 5438
- Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2026 5:19 pm
Re: London session MT5 workspace: templates, hotkeys, what I stripped out
Three windows here during London, EURUSD M1 and M5 plus GBPUSD M5, and the gold one went last year. The thing I refuse to remove is prior day high and low, since it is the only reference I check before every single entry.
The last thing I stripped was the floating profit in account currency. I switched the terminal to show points instead, and over the next month my early exits on trades that were still inside plan dropped by about a third.
That was a bigger change in behaviour than any indicator I deleted. Watching money tick up and down at 08:05 made me close good trades for no reason the plan would accept.
On hotkeys, I use native MT5 for entries but a small script for flatten. It closes positions and also cancels every pending order on the symbol, because I once flattened at the open and had a forgotten limit fill thirty seconds later.
LondonScalper, does your flatten key also kill pendings? I would test that on demo before trusting it with real size.
The last thing I stripped was the floating profit in account currency. I switched the terminal to show points instead, and over the next month my early exits on trades that were still inside plan dropped by about a third.
That was a bigger change in behaviour than any indicator I deleted. Watching money tick up and down at 08:05 made me close good trades for no reason the plan would accept.
On hotkeys, I use native MT5 for entries but a small script for flatten. It closes positions and also cancels every pending order on the symbol, because I once flattened at the open and had a forgotten limit fill thirty seconds later.
LondonScalper, does your flatten key also kill pendings? I would test that on demo before trusting it with real size.
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Shadow Trader
- Posts: 5438
- Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2026 5:19 pm
Re: London session MT5 workspace: templates, hotkeys, what I stripped out
Two settings outside the charts made more difference to the 08:02 freezes LondonScalper mentioned than removing indicators did. I set the max bars setting to 5,000 instead of unlimited, and I hide every symbol in Market Watch that I do not trade.
Each visible symbol keeps receiving ticks, and with a few hundred instruments listed the terminal spends the busiest minute of the day updating prices nobody looks at. On my VPS those two changes brought memory use down by roughly a third.
On hotkeys, the risk I worry about more than speed is a key pressed by accident. I keep the buy and sell keys on combinations that need two hands while flatten has a single key, because a stray flatten costs far less than a stray entry.
The review mode template is worth keeping out of the trading profile entirely. I load it in a second profile after the session, so the extra levels never sit on a live screen at 08:30 tempting a trade.
PropScalpDesk, when you delete anything unused for two weeks, does that include saved templates and scripts? Mine had collected a dozen old ones, and picking the wrong template under pressure happened more than once.
Each visible symbol keeps receiving ticks, and with a few hundred instruments listed the terminal spends the busiest minute of the day updating prices nobody looks at. On my VPS those two changes brought memory use down by roughly a third.
On hotkeys, the risk I worry about more than speed is a key pressed by accident. I keep the buy and sell keys on combinations that need two hands while flatten has a single key, because a stray flatten costs far less than a stray entry.
The review mode template is worth keeping out of the trading profile entirely. I load it in a second profile after the session, so the extra levels never sit on a live screen at 08:30 tempting a trade.
PropScalpDesk, when you delete anything unused for two weeks, does that include saved templates and scripts? Mine had collected a dozen old ones, and picking the wrong template under pressure happened more than once.
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Shadow Trader
- Posts: 5438
- Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2026 5:19 pm
Re: London session MT5 workspace: templates, hotkeys, what I stripped out
A saved chart template is meant to keep indicators, colours and timeframes consistent, but small edits tend to accumulate. A moving average period nudged during an experiment, a scale change or a new indicator added for a single session can remain in place for weeks. Decisions then rest on a configuration that differs from the one originally tested.
Drift matters because many scalping rules are sensitive to parameters. Two traders believing the same setup is in use may in fact be reading different lookback lengths, different price sources or different session boundaries. Even a change in chart scale can alter how a move looks and, with it, how confident an entry feels.
Practical controls are straightforward. Keeping one locked master template, and a separate experimental workspace for testing changes, prevents accidental edits from spreading. Version names with dates make it possible to restore an earlier layout. A short written list of every indicator setting, stored outside the platform, allows a rebuild after a crash or a move to a new machine.
Periodic audits help too. Opening a fresh chart, applying the master template and comparing it to the daily workspace takes a minute and often exposes forgotten changes before they influence any trade.
Drift matters because many scalping rules are sensitive to parameters. Two traders believing the same setup is in use may in fact be reading different lookback lengths, different price sources or different session boundaries. Even a change in chart scale can alter how a move looks and, with it, how confident an entry feels.
Practical controls are straightforward. Keeping one locked master template, and a separate experimental workspace for testing changes, prevents accidental edits from spreading. Version names with dates make it possible to restore an earlier layout. A short written list of every indicator setting, stored outside the platform, allows a rebuild after a crash or a move to a new machine.
Periodic audits help too. Opening a fresh chart, applying the master template and comparing it to the daily workspace takes a minute and often exposes forgotten changes before they influence any trade.