Hotkeys: the close-all that closes the wrong things
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 10:25 pm
A hotkey for "close all positions" is handy in an emergency. It's also dangerous, since it closes everything on the account, including positions from other strategies, or hedges that were deliberately open.
Different platforms interpret "all" differently. Some close all positions on all symbols. Some close only those on the current chart. Some leave pending orders in place, and the next tick fills one, opening a new position right after the panic exit.
Hotkey conflicts are another source of trouble. A key combination used by the operating system, a screen-recording tool, or another application can fire at the wrong moment. A shortcut intended for the platform ends up doing something else, or nothing, when it's needed.
The remedy is to test every hotkey on a demo account with a mix of positions and pending orders open, and write down exactly what each one does. Then check which keys might be captured by other software.
Customizing hotkeys to avoid single-key triggers helps, since a stray keystroke on the keyboard shouldn't be able to close the book.
What does the close-all hotkey really do on the platform used here, and has it ever surprised anyone?
Different platforms interpret "all" differently. Some close all positions on all symbols. Some close only those on the current chart. Some leave pending orders in place, and the next tick fills one, opening a new position right after the panic exit.
Hotkey conflicts are another source of trouble. A key combination used by the operating system, a screen-recording tool, or another application can fire at the wrong moment. A shortcut intended for the platform ends up doing something else, or nothing, when it's needed.
The remedy is to test every hotkey on a demo account with a mix of positions and pending orders open, and write down exactly what each one does. Then check which keys might be captured by other software.
Customizing hotkeys to avoid single-key triggers helps, since a stray keystroke on the keyboard shouldn't be able to close the book.
What does the close-all hotkey really do on the platform used here, and has it ever surprised anyone?