Alpaca Markets Alpaca Trading API

Name: Alpaca Trading API
Brand: Alpaca Trading API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecFinanceBankingapiKey44 EndpointsREST

Install Jentic One Beta

Connect the Alpaca Trading API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Alpaca Trading API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.

Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.

Step 1: Jentic One Host machine

# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh

Step 2: Agent machine

# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register       # connects your agent to your Jentic One instance

Jentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Alpaca Trading API.

Place, replace, and cancel stock, options, and crypto orders

List open positions and close one or all of them

Exercise an options position before or at expiry

Create, update, and delete watchlists by ID or by name

GET STARTED

Start building with Alpaca Trading API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

For Agents

Run a self-directed Alpaca account: place and cancel orders, manage positions and watchlists, read account activities, and check the market calendar through one set of API keys.

Use for: I need to place a market buy order for 10 shares of AAPL, Cancel all open orders on my account, Close all open positions immediately, Get my current portfolio history for the last month

Not supported: Does not handle market data feeds, customer account opening, or KYC - use for self-directed order placement, position and watchlist management, and account activities only.

The Alpaca Trading API is the self-directed trading surface of the Alpaca platform, designed for individual developers and algorithmic traders running their own brokerage account. It exposes orders, positions, watchlists, account configurations, account activities, market calendar and clock, assets, options contracts, corporate actions, crypto funding wallets, and portfolio history. Authentication uses APCA-API-KEY-ID and APCA-API-SECRET-KEY headers, and live and paper environments are exposed at api.alpaca.markets and paper-api.alpaca.markets respectively. With 44 endpoints, this API is focused on trading, not on opening or managing customer accounts.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Alpaca Trading API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Algorithmic order placement

Trading bots place orders via POST /v2/orders, replace open orders via PATCH /v2/orders/{order_id}, and cancel via DELETE /v2/orders/{order_id} or DELETE /v2/orders for all open orders. The same surface covers stock, options, and crypto orders, so a single integration handles cross-asset strategies.

Place a market buy order for 5 shares of NVDA via POST /v2/orders, then poll GET /v2/orders/{order_id} until status is filled.

Position management and risk control

Risk controls call GET /v2/positions to read current exposure, DELETE /v2/positions to flatten the book, or DELETE /v2/positions/{symbol_or_asset_id} to close a single position. Combined with GET /v2/account/portfolio/history, this lets a daily risk job evaluate drawdown and rebalance without leaving the API.

If end-of-day drawdown exceeds 2 percent, call DELETE /v2/positions to close all open positions on the account.

Options trading workflow

Options traders look up contracts via GET /v2/options/contracts, place orders for chosen contracts via POST /v2/orders, and exercise positions via POST /v2/positions/{symbol_or_contract_id}/exercise. The trading surface mirrors the stock workflow which keeps the option logic small.

Find SPY put contracts expiring this Friday via GET /v2/options/contracts, then place a buy-to-open order for the chosen strike.

Watchlist and market context

Apps maintain user-curated watchlists via /v2/watchlists and the by-name variant /v2/watchlists:by_name, then check the market clock via GET /v2/clock and the calendar via GET /v2/calendar to schedule trading windows. Asset metadata via /v2/assets fills out symbol details for the UI.

Add AAPL to the watchlist named 'tech-picks' via POST /v2/watchlists:by_name, then check GET /v2/clock to confirm the market is open.

AI agent self-directed trading

An AI agent assistant can suggest trades, place them after explicit confirmation, and read back portfolio history to summarise performance. Through Jentic the agent searches by intent, loads the order schema, and executes - APCA keys stay in the vault and never enter the prompt context.

Use Jentic to search 'place an Alpaca order', execute POST /v2/orders after the user confirms, and report the fill via GET /v2/orders/{order_id}.

Key Endpoints

44 endpoints — the alpaca trading api is the self-directed trading surface of the alpaca platform, designed for individual developers and algorithmic traders running their own brokerage account.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/v2/orders

Create an order

GET

/v2/orders

List orders

DELETE

/v2/orders/{order_id}

Cancel an order

GET

/v2/positions

List open positions

DELETE

/v2/positions

Close all positions

GET

/v2/account/portfolio/history

Account portfolio history

GET

/v2/clock

Market clock

GET

/v2/options/contracts

List option contracts

POST

/v2/orders

Create an order

GET

/v2/orders

List orders

DELETE

/v2/orders/{order_id}

Cancel an order

GET

/v2/positions

List open positions

DELETE

/v2/positions

Close all positions

GET

/v2/account/portfolio/history

Why Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

Your Alpaca Trading API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'place a buy order' or 'read open positions', and Jentic returns the matching Alpaca Trading operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

Time to first call

FAQs

Specific to using Alpaca Trading API through Jentic.

What authentication does the Alpaca Trading API use?

Two header-based API keys: APCA-API-KEY-ID and APCA-API-SECRET-KEY. Through Jentic, both values are stored encrypted in the vault and injected at execution time, so they never appear in agent prompts or logs.

Can I place options orders through the Trading API?

Yes. Look up contracts via GET /v2/options/contracts, then place an order with POST /v2/orders specifying the contract symbol. Exercise an options position via POST /v2/positions/{symbol_or_contract_id}/exercise.

How do I cancel all open orders via Jentic?

Run pip install jentic, search 'cancel all Alpaca orders', load the input schema for DELETE /v2/orders, and execute. The endpoint cancels every open order on the authenticated account.

Is there a paper trading endpoint?

Yes. The spec lists https://paper-api.alpaca.markets alongside the live https://api.alpaca.markets endpoint. Use the paper URL to develop and test without placing real orders.

Can I read portfolio history for performance reporting?

Yes. GET /v2/account/portfolio/history returns equity and profit and loss values across a chosen period, suitable for daily or weekly performance summaries.

Does the Trading API include market data?

No. Use the separate Alpaca Market Data API for bars, quotes, trades, and snapshots. The Trading API exposes asset metadata and the market clock but not pricing data.

Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Alpaca Trading API?

Yes. Because Jentic One is self-hosted, your own rules decide which Alpaca Trading operations and credentials the agent may use, so you can pin it to read-only calls like GET /v2/orders and GET /v2/clock. Order creation and closing positions are collection-level operations such as POST /v2/orders and DELETE /v2/positions, so the agent cannot place or flatten trades unless you add those operations to its allowed set. Individual actions keyed by path, like canceling a specific order via DELETE /v2/orders/{order_id}, can be scoped in the same way.

Alpaca Markets Alpaca Trading API

Connect the Alpaca Trading API to your agent

Capabilities

Start building with Alpaca Trading API

Use Cases

Key Endpoints

Why Jentic?

Related APIs

FAQs