August 2026 Summaries

Alpaca has released Node.js SDK 4.0.1 and Java SDK 0.1.3, expanding typed access to its Trading, Market Data, and Broker APIs through a shared architecture that combines OpenAPI-generated REST clients and models with handwritten helpers for workflows, pagination, request controls, errors, and real-time connections. Node.js 4.x is a breaking TypeScript-based redesign requiring migration from 3.x imports, client construction, and method paths, but adds dedicated trading and marketData namespaces, broader coverage for options, corporate actions, crypto funding, locates, tokenization, account-activity streams, indices, forex, fixed income, auctions, and metadata, along with typed errors, timeouts, rate limiting, safe-method retries, reduced dependencies, and Node.js 20+ package support. Java 0.1.3, for Java 17 and later, introduces generated REST clients for all three API areas, WebSocket support for trading updates and market data, Server-Sent Events for Broker trade events, configurable HTTP behavior, pagination, optional idempotent retries, and decimal-preserving WebSocket models. Both SDKs include documentation and AI-assisted development resources, while Alpaca emphasizes that securities, options, fractional shares, and cryptocurrency trading involve substantial risks.