Trading
All the functionality from Alpaca Trading API for direct users is supported under Broker API. Please read the documentation for more details. There are additional capabilities for Trading API in the broker setup.
Fractional Shares
Under the correspondent authentication, Trading API is extended for fractional shares trading.
Asset API
Asset entity has an extra field named fractionable with type boolean, it is set to true if the asset is marked for fractional trading. Check out more about our Assets API here.
Order API
The POST
method (to submit order) has an extra parameter called notional
to denote the dollar amount to buy. This parameter is mutually exclusive to the qty parameter. You can also specify the qty
parameter with fractional quantity. Note that the fractional shares trading is currently supported only for market day orders and any other type of orders will result in API error. You can submit such fractional share orders in the night to execute at the next market open.
The order entity includes the notional
value if the order was submitted with the notional value. In this case, the order entity omits the qty
field.
Check out more about our Order API here.
Sample Order Object
{
"id": "39c489ad-fcb1-42b3-9f62-e14c11c62157",
"client_order_id": "a49c3e74-3f74-468e-a31a-f7a15de17128",
"created_at": "2024-05-20T09:56:41.449735Z",
"updated_at": "2024-05-20T13:30:00.876162Z",
"submitted_at": "2024-05-20T13:23:01.24795Z",
"filled_at": "2024-05-20T13:30:00.865454Z",
"expired_at": null,
"canceled_at": null,
"failed_at": null,
"replaced_at": null,
"replaced_by": null,
"replaces": null,
"asset_id": "7595a8d2-68a6-46d7-910c-6b1958491f5c",
"symbol": "A",
"asset_class": "us_equity",
"notional": null,
"qty": "0.1",
"filled_qty": "0.1",
"filled_avg_price": "154.03",
"order_class": "",
"order_type": "market",
"type": "market",
"side": "sell",
"time_in_force": "day",
"limit_price": null,
"stop_price": null,
"status": "filled",
"extended_hours": false,
"legs": null,
"trail_percent": null,
"trail_price": null,
"hwm": null,
"commission": "0",
"subtag": null,
"source": "correspondent"
},
Order Properties
Attribute | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
id | string/UUID | Order ID generated by Alpaca |
client_order_id | string/UUID | Client unique order ID |
created_at | string/timestamp | Time when order was entered |
updated_at | string/timestamp | Time of most recent change to the order |
submitted_at | string/timestamp | Time the order was submitted for execution or, if not yet submitted the created_at time. Because orders are submitted for execution asynchronous to database updates, at times this may be before the created_at time. |
filled_at | string/timestamp | Time the order was filled. Can be null if not filled |
expired_at | string/timestamp | Can be null |
cancelled_at | string/timestamp | Can be null |
failed_at | string/timestamp | Can be null |
replaced_at | string/timestamp | Can be null |
replaced_by | string/UUID | The order ID that this order was replaced by. (Can be null) |
replaces | string/UUID | The order ID that this order replaces. (Can be null) |
asset_id | string/UUID | The asset ID |
symbol | string | The asset symbol |
asset_class | string | The asset class |
notional | string/number | Ordered notional amount. If entered, qty will be null. Can take up to 2 decimal points. |
qty | string/number | Ordered quantity. If entered, notional will be null. Can take up to 9 decimal points. |
filled_qty | string/number | Filled quantity. |
filled_avg_price | string/number | Filled average price. Can be 0 until order is processed in case order is passed outside of market hours. |
order_class | string | Valid values: simple , bracket , oco or oto . |
order_type | string/number | (Will be deprecated in favor of type field below) Valid values: market, limit, stop, stop_limit, trailing_stop |
type | string | Valid values: market ,limit , stop , stop_limit , trailing_stop . |
side | string | Valid values: buy and sell . |
time_in_force | string | Please see the relevant section in Time in Force for more info on what values are possible for what kind of orders. |
limit_price | string/number | Limit price. |
stop_price | string/number | Stop price. |
status | string | Order status. See Order statuses here. |
extended_hours | boolean | If true , eligible for execution outside regular trading hours. |
legs | array | When querying non-simple order_class orders in a nested style, an array of Order entities associated with this order. Otherwise, null. |
trail_percent | string/number | The percent value away from the high water mark for trailing stop orders. |
trail_price | string/number | The dollar value away from the high water mark for trailing stop orders. |
hwm | string/number | The highest (lowest) market price seen since the trailing stop order was submitted. |
commission | string/number | The commission you want to charge the end user. |
commission_type | string | Select how to interpret the value provided in the commission field. Available options: notional(default), qty, bps. |
subtag | string/number | An account identifier for Omnibus partners. (Can be null) |
source | string | Source of order. |
Account Configuration API
Account configuration API adds another configuration key called fractional_trading
and defaults to true
. If you want to disable fractional trading for a specific account for any reason, you can set this to false
.
Commissions
You have the option to charge the commission for each order. You will need to contact Alpaca first to set up the commission structure, but once it’s set up, you can submit customer orders with a commission
parameter indicating the dollar amount to charge. The respective field is attached in the order entity in the API response.
To charge commissions, first select desired method with commission_type
. Then specify the desired dollar amount or percentage in commission
field. Please note: On orders to sell if the commission input will be more than the principal of the transaction then the principal amount of the transaction (net of SEC REG and FINRA TAF fees) will be charged as commission and not the amount specified in the order. On all orders (regardless of commission type), the commission charged will be prorated on each execution if the order has multiple executions. For instance, if 10% of the order is filled on one execution then the commission on that execution will be 10% of the total commission.
- notional:
Charge commission on a per order basis. When thecommission_type
field is omitted from the order request, this is used as the default. - qty:
Charge commission on a per qty/contract basis, pro rated. - bps:
The percent commission you want to charge the end user on the order (expressed in bps). Alpaca will convert the order to a notional amount for purposes of calculating commission.
Order Sub-tagging (Omnibus)
If you are an omnibus setup, we ask you to submit a “sub-tag” value in each order. This is for us to understand the order flow better from the trade surveillance requirements. In case you fail to attach proper sub-tags, we may need to reject all of the order flows coming from you as we may not be able to segregate particular malicious activities.
FAQ
What should I do if I receive a timeout message from Alpaca when submitting an order?
The order may have been sent to the market for execution. You should not attempt to resend the order or mark the timed-out order as canceled until confirmed by Alpaca Support or the trading team. Before taking any action on the timed-out order you should check the broker dashboard and contact Alpaca support.
Please contact our Support Team at [email protected] to verify if the order was successfully submitted and routed to the market.
Updated 7 days ago