GLOSSARY // Orders & Execution
Hotkeys
Hotkeys are keyboard shortcuts that fire pre-configured orders instantly: one keystroke to buy 1,000 shares at the ask, another to flatten the entire position, no mouse and no order ticket. Active trading platforms exist largely because of this feature.
The value is measured in cents of slippage. Building an order by mouse takes 2-4 seconds; a hotkey fires in a fraction of one, and in a fast-moving stock those seconds are the difference between the price you saw and the price three levels higher. The risk is symmetrical: a fat-fingered hotkey sends a real order at full size instantly, which is why traders drill their layout in a simulator before it touches live money.
A scalper maps F1 to buy 1,000 shares at the ask plus $0.05 (a marketable limit) and F4 to sell the full position at the bid minus $0.05. When a breakout triggers at $20.00, the F1 entry fills around $20.05 within a few hundred milliseconds; a point-and-click trader building the same ticket pays $20.15 four seconds later. On 1,000 shares the keystroke was worth $100.
Related terms
Educational only — not financial advice. Definitions simplified for clarity; markets are messier than definitions.