Alpaca Trading Reviews

Alpaca.markets is a developer-first API for stock, options, and crypto trading. Here are some of its key features and benefits:

1. Simple Modern API: Alpaca's highly flexible suite of Broker APIs helps to build end-to-end embedded trading and investing products.

2. Commission-Free Trading: Alpaca offers commission-free trading, meaning there are no commission charges for self-directed individual cash brokerage accounts that trade U.S. listed securities through an API.

3. OAuth Integration: Alpaca supports OAuth, which is a standard protocol for authorization that allows users to share their private resources stored on one site with another site without providing their credentials.

4. Margin and Short Selling: Alpaca supports margin trading and short selling, which can potentially increase profits but also comes with greater risks.

5. Testing Environment: Alpaca provides a testing environment where users can test their trading algorithms and strategies before deploying them in the live market.

6. Inclusive API: Alpaca's API is inclusive, meaning it is designed to be used by a wide range of users, from individual traders to large institutions.

7. Alpaca Securities: Alpaca Securities LLC is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA). Securities in your account are protected up to $500,000.

8. Alpaca-py: Alpaca’s Python library, designed for algorithmic trading, opens up a realm of possibilities for automating trading strategies, especially in the US options market.

These features make Alpaca a powerful platform for algorithmic trading and building financial apps. It's designed to be easy to use, making it accessible to both developers and businesses alike. It's also backed by a strong community and provides comprehensive documentation to help users get started.

Alpaca.markets offers two main plans for market data:

1. Basic: This plan is designed for developers and researchers. It costs $0 per month. It provides 200 API calls/min and 7+ years of historical data. The market coverage is 100% and it includes data for US Stocks Exchanges IEX.

2. Algo Trader Plus: This plan is designed for algo traders and quants. It costs $99 per month. It provides 10,000 API calls/min and 7+ years of historical data. The market coverage is 100% and it includes data for all major US Exchanges.

In addition, Alpaca does not charge a fee to deposit or withdraw funds via Automated Clearing House (ACH), or to deposit funds via non-ACH and wire transfers. A $25 fee is charged for outgoing domestic and $50 for outgoing international non-ACH and wire transfers.

For U.S. equity trades, there are no commissions charged and all clearing fees are paid by Alpaca Securities LLC to the clearing firm Velox Clearing.

Regulatory fees are charged by the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) on all sell orders. These fees are $22.90 per $1,000,000 of principal (sells only) - this fee is rounded up to the nearest penny on each fill or partial-fill. FINRA Trading Activity Fee (TAF): $.000119 per share (sells only) - this fee is rounded up to the nearest penny on each fill or partial fill and will be no greater than $5.95.

These regulatory fees are deducted from sales proceeds.

Alpaca.markets offers several methods for account funding. US Tax Residents can use Automated Clearing House (ACH) for deposits/transfers from a linked bank account. This is the default method available to fund your Alpaca Account. Wire transfers are accepted on a case basis when there are specific reasons that ACH does not work.

For Non-US Tax Residents, international users can fund their account with Rapyd which can be accessed by selecting the Banking Tab on the side of the dashboard of the live brokerage account. Only USD can be deposited into Alpaca Brokerage Accounts. International Users can still send wire transfers however they need to be in USD.

Before initiating an ACH deposit/transfer, a bank account must be linked to the Alpaca Account. Alpaca utilizes Plaid, a third-party vendor for bank account authentication and identification services. The maximum ACH transfer allowed is $50,000 per day. Verification of banking information can be done through quick electronic verification or through micro-deposits, which typically takes between 1-3 business days.

Starting from June 1, 2022, charges apply for outgoing wires, both domestic and international. The end user pays the fee for every outgoing wire transfer that they initiate. The fee stated in the contract with Alpaca will automatically be deducted from the amount entered via the Transfers API. The fee stated in the contract will not be deducted from the amount entered via the Transfers API but will be charged this fee in the next monthly invoice if the fee_payment_method field is set to invoice.

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