Create Locate

post

https://paper-api.alpaca.markets/v1/locates

Creates a locate request for a short sale.

Body Params

Locate request details.

Request to locate shares for a short sale.

all_or_none

boolean

Defaults to false

Reject the locate unless the full requested quantity is available.

limit_price

string | null

Maximum acceptable locate fee per share, as a decimal string in USD.
If omitted, any quoted fee is accepted.

qty

int64

required

≥ 1

Number of shares to locate. Must be positive and in round lots of 100; invalid quantities return HTTP 400.

symbol

string

required

Stock symbol.

Headers

Idempotency-Key

string

length ≤ 128

Optional idempotency key for safe retries. Reusing the same key with
the same request returns the original locate response. Reusing the same
key with a different request returns HTTP 422.
We recommend always providing this header in production so timeouts,
network errors, and 5xx responses can be safely retried without creating
duplicate locates. Use a client-generated unique value, such as a UUID,
for each logical locate.

Responses

201Created

400Invalid locate request.

401Authentication headers are missing or invalid. Make sure you authenticate your request with a valid API key.

403User has no access to a resource.

422Cannot complete locate request.

500Internal server error. We recommend retrying these later. If the issue persists, please contact us on Slack or on the Community Forum.