United States · Broker API
Build an Alpaca trading bot with your AI coding agent.
Super Algo Kit helps you build an Alpaca trading bot inside your own AI coding agent. It interviews you, writes a spec with pass marks, then builds and backtests the bot with costs. Next it runs the bot on an Alpaca paper account. Live trading waits until you type the authorize command, and Super Algo Kit never places trades itself.
broker facts
Alpaca Trading API
- What it is
- A US broker with a REST and WebSocket trading API and a separate market data API.
- Markets
- US stocks and ETFs, options and crypto, as reported in Alpaca's docs.
- Login model
- A static API key and secret, not signed. No daily token was found; the kit infers keys last until you regenerate them.
- Paper option
- Free paper account for anyone with an email: same API, separate keys, USD 100,000 default balance (reported).
- Trading limit
- About 200 trading API requests a minute per account (reported). Super Algo Kit caps itself at 120.
- Data plans
- Basic is free with IEX-only real-time data. Algo Trader Plus is USD 99 a month for all US exchanges.
- 2026 rule change
- The pattern-day-trader rule ended. Alpaca applied its intraday-margin framework on 4 June 2026.
From the kit's Alpaca card, checked 2026-09-30. Confirm current terms on Alpaca's own site.
Paper first
A Alpaca bot, built paper first.
Super Algo Kit runs inside the coding agent you already use. It interviews you, writes the spec with pass marks set first, then builds, backtests and paper-tests. Real money starts only when you type the authorize command.
The plan, step by step
Tick them off as you go.
How does Alpaca API access and login work?
You sign up, open a paper account or apply for a live one, then create keys in the dashboard. Requests carry a static key and secret, as reported in Alpaca's docs. No daily token was found, so the kit infers keys last until you regenerate or delete them.
There is no login to script, so Super Algo Kit never needs your account password or two-factor seed. Coding agents hold paper keys only. Live keys stay in the deployed bot's environment, never in chat or the repository.
Paper trading an Alpaca trading bot
Alpaca paper trading uses the same API on a separate paper host, with its own keys. The default balance is USD 100,000 (reported). Market data on paper is reported to match live.
The fill model is simple. Orders fill only when marketable, and 10% of fills are partial fills of random size. Slippage, queue position, market impact, regulatory fees and dividends are not simulated (reported).
A paper account is deleted and recreated rather than reset, and each new one gets new keys. If the paper run uses the free IEX-only data, Super Algo Kit labels the results with that limit.
Alpaca API limits and costs to plan for
The trading API is reported to allow 200 requests a minute per account, with a too-many-requests error on breach. Market data limits follow your plan. Basic is free, with 200 requests a minute, 30 streaming symbols and real-time data from IEX only.
Algo Trader Plus costs USD 99 a month, per Alpaca's page updated 16 July 2026. It allows 10,000 requests a minute and covers all US exchanges, with options data from OPRA. Alpaca's commissions are not confirmed in the kit's card.
The US pack models sell-side regulatory fees with their dates. From 4 April 2026 the SEC Section 31 fee is USD 20.60 per million dollars sold. The FINRA trading activity fee also applies to shares sold.
What Super Algo Kit does with Alpaca
The adapter caps itself at 120 trading requests a minute, 60% of Alpaca's reported limit. It backs off on rate-limit errors and turns off SDK retries for order placement. After a timeout, it looks the order up by client order id first. An unknown outcome is never blindly resent.
Startup reconciliation uses buying power and margin fields, not the retired day-trade counters. An independent risk gate outside the strategy checks every order. A kill switch you can run yourself is drilled on paper. Alpaca's own MCP server can place orders, so the kit never connects an AI model to live keys.
Before you rely on it
Gotchas to plan for.
- Code that checks the old pattern-day-trader fields breaks. Read buying power and expect margin-deficit rejections.
- Paper fills are optimistic: slippage, queue position and fees are not simulated (reported).
- Recreating a paper account changes its keys, so update your environment afterwards.
- Dollar-amount (notional) orders work only as market orders and cannot be replaced (reported).
- Options take day orders only; crypto takes good-till-cancelled or immediate-or-cancel.
- Overnight orders must be limit orders (reported), and US trade-date rules change on 6 December 2026.
FAQ
Alpaca: questions.
Can I build an Alpaca trading bot without coding?
Yes. Super Algo Kit runs inside your AI coding agent and interviews you in plain words. It writes a strategy card and a spec before any code, then builds and tests the bot in your project. The result is real code you own, and it starts on paper.
Does Alpaca offer paper trading for bots?
Yes. Alpaca paper accounts use the same API with separate keys, and anyone with an email can open one. Paper fills skip slippage and fees, so treat paper results as optimistic (reported). Super Algo Kit runs its paper stage there before any live step.
Is Super Algo Kit affiliated with Alpaca?
No. Super Algo Kit is independent software and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Alpaca. The name is used only to say the kit works with Alpaca's documented API. You open and run your own Alpaca account.
Does Super Algo Kit trade on Alpaca for me?
No. Super Algo Kit is development software in your coding agent. It never places trades itself and gives no investment advice. Agents hold paper keys only, and real money starts only when you type the authorize command yourself.
What happened to the pattern day trader rule at Alpaca?
FINRA replaced the pattern-day-trader rule, and Alpaca applied its intraday-margin framework on 4 June 2026. The old day-trade fields were deprecated, so bots should read buying power instead. Super Algo Kit's risk gate rejects orders that would create an intraday margin deficit.
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Build it with Super Algo Kit.
15 specialist roles and 35 skills inside your coding agent. Paper first, live only when you say.
Alpaca Trading API and its logo are trademarks of their owner, used here only to say that Super Algo Kit can work with it. Super Algo Kit is not affiliated with or endorsed by Alpaca. Super Algo Kit is development software. It is not investment advice, a signal service or a promise of performance. Trading involves substantial risk, including the loss of all capital you trade with.