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To view the supported US regions for crypto trading, click here.

Enabling Crypto for an Account

To enable crypto trading for an account, the crypto agreements must be signed by the user. All account balances will represent the crypto trading activities.

In the case of new users, the crypto agreement can be submitted via the Accounts API where crypto_agreement is part of the agreements attribute.

Part of the request

{
  "agreements": [
    {
      "agreement": "crypto_agreement",
      "signed_at": "2023-01-01T18:09:33Z"
    }
  ]
}

In the case of existing users the account has to be updated with the crypto_agreement which can be submitted on the PATCH /v1/accounts/{account_id} endpoint.

Part of the request

{
  "agreements": [
    {
      "agreement": "crypto_agreement",
      "signed_at": "2023-01-01T18:13:44Z",
      "ip_address": "185.13.21.99"
    }
  ]
}

Once the crypto agreement is added to the user account no further edits can be made to the agreements.

To determine whether the account is all set to start trading crypto, use the crypto_status attribute from the Account API endpoint response object.

Sample Response

{
  "id": "9feee08f-22d2-4804-89c1-bf01166aad52",
  "account_number": "943690069",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "crypto_status": "ACTIVE"
}

Supported Assets

We have over 20 coins available to trade via our APIs. We constantly evaluate the list and aim to to grow the number of supported currencies.

Tradable cryptocurrencies can be identified through the Assets API where the asset entity has class = crypto and tradable = true.

{
  "id": "64bbff51-59d6-4b3c-9351-13ad85e3c752",
  "class": "crypto",
  "exchange": "CRXL",
  "symbol": "BTC/USD",
  "name": "Bitcoin",
  "status": "active",
  "tradable": true,
  "marginable": false,
  "shortable": false,
  "easy_to_borrow": false,
  "fractionable": true
}

Please note that the symbol appears with USD, such as BTC/USD instead of BTC.

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Crypto Fee Revenue Notice

If you enable non-USD crypto trading you will receive fees in the quote currency. Currently, non-USD quote crypto assets are BTC, USDC and USDT. As a broker business you would need to be ready to handle collecting crypto fees plus taking care of the necessary conversions if needed.

Minimum Order Size

The minimum quantity value that is accepted in an order. This value is calculated dynamically based on the selected notional equivalent minimum, based on the last close price of the relevant asset(s). The maximum decimal places accepted is 9 i.e 0.000000001 for all crypto assets.

For USD pairs, the minimum order size calculation is: 1/USD asset price.

For BTC, ETH and USDT pairs, the minimum order size is 0.000000002.

Min Trade Increment

The minimum quantity allowed to be added to the min_order_size. E.g. if 0.1 we accept an order for 1.1 but we won’t accept 0.9 because it’s under the min_order_size. The maximum decimal places accepted are 9 i.e 0.000000001 for all crypto assets.

Price Increment: The minimum notional value that is accepted in an order. Similar to Min Order Size but for notional orders. The maximum decimal places accepted are 9 i.e 0.000000001 for all crypto assets.

All cryptocurrency assets are fractionable but the supported decimal points vary depending on the cryptocurrency.

Supported Orders

When submitting crypto orders through the Orders API, Market, Limit and Stop Limit orders are supported while the supported time_in_force values are gtc, and ioc. We accept fractional orders as well with either notional or qty provided.

Required Disclosures

Below you will find required disclosure templates to safely support crypto in your applications as a broker with Alpaca.

Onboarding Disclosures

When onboarding your users as a broker offering crypto the following disclosure is required. During your onboarding flow make sure the user is able to read and affirmatively acknowledge, such as through a separate checkbox, the following text:

I have read, understood, and agree to be bound by Alpaca Crypto LLC and [your legal entity] account terms, and all other terms, disclosures and disclaimers applicable to me, as referenced in the Alpaca Crypto Agreement. I also acknowledge that the Alpaca Crypto Agreement contains a pre-dispute arbitration clause in Section 26.

Buy/Sell Order Screen Disclosures

As a broker enabling the placement of cryptocurrency orders, the following disclosures should appear on the user’s order entry screen, on the app or website, immediately prior to the user submitting the buy or sell order.

Buy Order Disclosure

By placing an order to buy [$ amount of / number of ] [cryptocurrency], you are directing and authorizing Alpaca Securities LLC to transfer funds necessary to cover the purchase costs from your Alpaca Securities LLC account into your Alpaca Crypto LLC account. Cryptocurrency services are facilitated by Alpaca Crypto LLC. Cryptocurrencies are not securities and are not FDIC insured or protected by SIPC. Disclosures.

Sell Order Disclosure

By placing an order to sell [$ amount of / number of ] [cryptocurrency], you are directing and authorizing Alpaca Crypto LLC to transfer settled funds from the sale into your Alpaca Securities LLC account. Cryptocurrency services are facilitated by Alpaca Crypto LLC. Cryptocurrencies are not securities and are not FDIC insured or protected by SIPC. Disclosures.

Crypto Pairs Order Disclosure

By placing an order, you are directing and authorizing Alpaca Crypto LLC to exchange [X amount of Cryptocurrency] for [Y amount of cryptocurrency]. Cryptocurrency services are facilitated by Alpaca Crypto LLC. Cryptocurrencies are not securities and are not FDIC insured or protected by SIPC.

Margin and Short Selling

Cryptocurrencies are non-marginable. This means that you cannot use leverage to buy them and orders are evaluated against non_marginable_buying_power.

Cryptocurrencies are not shortable.

Trading Hours

Crypto trading is offered for 24 hours everyday and your orders will be executed throughout the day.

Trading Limits

Currently, an order (buy or sell) must not exceed $200k in notional. This is per an order.

Market Data

Alpaca provides crypto data from multiple venues.

Crypto data providers utilized by Alpaca: