diff --git a/freqtrade/__init__.py b/freqtrade/__init__.py
index e96e7f530..30ad96b33 100644
--- a/freqtrade/__init__.py
+++ b/freqtrade/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 """ Freqtrade bot """
 __version__ = 'develop'
 
+import locale
+def getpreferredencoding(do_setlocale=True):
+    return "utf-8"
+locale.getpreferredencoding = getpreferredencoding
+
 if __version__ == 'develop':
 
     try: