diff --git a/tools/scyllatop/defaults.py b/tools/scyllatop/defaults.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ab22805995
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/scyllatop/defaults.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+DEFAULT_METRIC_PATTERNS = [
+        '*cache*',
+        '*disk*',
+        '*transport*',
+        '*netlink*',
+        '*network*',
+        '*storage_proxy*',
+        '*la*',
+        '*reactor*',
+        '*idle*',
+        '*interface*',
+        '*memory*',
+        '*cpu*',
+]
diff --git a/tools/scyllatop/livedata.py b/tools/scyllatop/livedata.py
index 2bb54a4bf8..19123316d6 100644
--- a/tools/scyllatop/livedata.py
+++ b/tools/scyllatop/livedata.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import logging
 import fnmatch
 import time
 import metric
+import defaults
 
 
 class LiveData(object):
@@ -25,9 +26,8 @@ class LiveData(object):
     def _initializeMetrics(self, metricPatterns):
         if len(metricPatterns) > 0:
             self._setupUserSpecifiedMetrics(metricPatterns)
-            return
-
-        self._measurements = metric.Metric.discover(self._collectd)
+        else:
+            self._setupUserSpecifiedMetrics(defaults.DEFAULT_METRIC_PATTERNS)
 
     def _setupUserSpecifiedMetrics(self, metricPatterns):
         availableSymbols = [m.symbol for m in metric.Metric.discover(self._collectd)]