December 2018 Summaries

We are introducing the Order-Queuing feature in the Alpaca Trading API, allowing users to submit orders outside of market hours and participate in the market open auction. Previously, such API calls were rejected until the next market open, but now they are accepted with a success status and routed to the marketplace at the next available time. This feature enables users to submit "OPG" time-in-force orders before the market opens, allowing them to take advantage of the market open auction. The feature is not intended for extended-hours trading, which requires separate arrangements and capabilities. Alpaca Securities LLC provides brokerage services through its subsidiary, AlpacaDB, Inc.

The Alpaca Paper Trading API aims to make automated trading more accessible by providing a free and globally open platform for users to test their algorithms and bots without the need for a brokerage account. The API offers unlimited testing, no limitation on paper account balance, and seamless transition to live-trading with the same code. Additionally, an updated Data API Beta has been launched, offering multi-symbol query support for market-related data, including IEX minute-level price and daily price data. A Python SDK with Data API support is also available, with other language SDKs following soon.

A Budding Developer’s Perspective` discusses the rise of software-driven automation in various aspects of society and economy, including finance. Robo-advisors are becoming increasingly popular due to a loss of trust in financial institutions, economic pressure of fees, and the desire for lower costs and faster trading. These automated services use APIs to gather data, process information, and execute trades more quickly and accurately than human traders. Automation allows investors to reduce their reliance on human brokers, eliminate emotional trading, and gain a competitive edge through algorithmic systems. However, safety concerns exist with robo-advisors, but they are regulated by FINRA and the SEC, providing a level of trustworthiness. The author highlights Alpaca as an example of a firm offering API-driven investment services with minimal fees and no GUI.