diff --git a/freqtrade/constants.py b/freqtrade/constants.py
index 470ffb2a3..371cb9578 100644
--- a/freqtrade/constants.py
+++ b/freqtrade/constants.py
@@ -512,11 +512,11 @@ CONF_SCHEMA = {
                     'maximum': 1500,
                     'default': 1500
                 },
-                'max_message_size': {
+                'max_message_size': {  # In megabytes
                     'type': 'integer',
-                    'minimum': 1048576,  # 1mb
-                    'maxmium': 8388608,  # 8.3mb,
-                    'default': 1048576,  # 1mb
+                    'minimum': 1,
+                    'maxmium': 20,
+                    'default': 8,
                 }
             },
             'required': ['producers']
diff --git a/freqtrade/rpc/external_message_consumer.py b/freqtrade/rpc/external_message_consumer.py
index 7dd6c09b0..95031488d 100644
--- a/freqtrade/rpc/external_message_consumer.py
+++ b/freqtrade/rpc/external_message_consumer.py
@@ -67,8 +67,9 @@ class ExternalMessageConsumer:
         # The amount of candles per dataframe on the initial request
         self.initial_candle_limit = self._emc_config.get('initial_candle_limit', 1500)
 
-        # Message size limit, default 1mb
-        self.message_size_limit = self._emc_config.get('message_size_limit', 2**20)
+        # Message size limit, in megabytes. Default 8mb, Use bitwise operator << 20 to convert
+        # as the websockets client expects bytes.
+        self.message_size_limit = (self._emc_config.get('message_size_limit', 8) << 20)
 
         # Setting these explicitly as they probably shouldn't be changed by a user
         # Unless we somehow integrate this with the strategy to allow creating
@@ -177,6 +178,9 @@ class ExternalMessageConsumer:
                 name = producer["name"]
                 ws_url = f"{url}?token={token}"
 
+                logger.info(
+                    f"Connecting to {name} @ {url}, max message size: {self.message_size_limit}")
+
                 # This will raise InvalidURI if the url is bad
                 async with websockets.connect(ws_url, max_size=self.message_size_limit) as ws:
                     channel = WebSocketChannel(ws, channel_id=name)