Who Alpaca is
Alpaca is a brokerage infrastructure company founded in 2015 and headquartered in California. Its US broker-dealer, Alpaca Securities LLC, is registered with the SEC and FINRA, is a member of SIPC, and has been self-clearing since 2024. In Europe, Alpaca Europe A.V., S.L.U. is an investment firm authorised by Spain's CNMV.
Its Broker API lets fintechs, brokers and advisers offer stocks, ETFs and other assets in their own apps, while Alpaca opens the accounts, executes the orders and holds the assets. That full stack behind one API is why it is one of the brokers our portfolio module connects to.
What it does in your platform
Portfolios
Executes your investors' orders, including fractional shares, and holds their assets under Alpaca's licences. The module keeps positions, cash and activity in sync with Alpaca and turns them into holdings, performance, dividends and statements in your app.
How the connection works
One connector in the portfolio module talks to Alpaca's Broker API over REST and listens to its server-sent event streams for everything that changes. The API keys stay in the platform's secrets; your apps only talk to the platform.
An account is opened
Once your KYC checks pass, the module submits the investor's details through the Broker API, and Alpaca opens the brokerage account.
Money arrives
The investor's deposit reaches their account by bank transfer, or as a journal from your firm's account to theirs.
An order goes in
The investor buys by amount, and Alpaca fills the order in whole or fractional shares.
Events stream back
Fills, account changes and transfers arrive on Alpaca's event streams, which can be replayed from a past point, so nothing is lost after a reconnect.
The portfolio updates
Positions, average cost and cash update in the app, and dividends and other corporate actions arrive as account activities.
Documents are ready
Trade confirmations and tax statements come from Alpaca's account documents, ready in the investor's statements.
Next to other providers
Alpaca is one of the brokers and custodians the portfolio module connects to, next to DriveWealth, Interactive Brokers, Saxo and Upvest. Reference data providers such as Twelve Data describe each instrument, while Alpaca's records decide what each investor holds.
The investor experience belongs to the module, not to the broker. If you move to another broker later, your app stays the same; existing holdings move by a transfer between the two brokers, which we plan with you.
When Alpaca fits best
A strong fit when
- You do not hold a broker licence and want a partner to open accounts, execute orders and hold assets under its own.
- Your investors buy US stocks and ETFs, often by amount in fractional shares.
- You want account opening, funding, trading and documents behind one API.
Also worth a look
- Upvest, when your investors want European-listed instruments and funds as well.
- Interactive Brokers or Saxo, when you hold your own licence and need many markets and asset classes.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your Alpaca account and contract in place, in the US or with Alpaca Europe, set up for how your customers' accounts and money will be held.
The account model
We set up the model with you: how accounts are opened, how deposits and withdrawals reach them, and which assets each investor can trade.
The keys
The Broker API keys go into your platform's secrets and nowhere else, and only the platform ever calls Alpaca.
A full test run
Account opening, funding, orders and documents run end to end in Alpaca's sandbox before your first real investor.
