Alpaca Trade API JS

Node.js library for Alpaca Trade API.

API Documentation

The REST API documentation can be found in https://docs.alpaca.markets. For detailed information about an endpoint, please consult the REST API docs. Documentation specific to this library can be found below.

Installation

npm install --save @alpacahq/alpaca-trade-api

Usage

Import the module first.

const Alpaca = require('@alpacahq/alpaca-trade-api')

Instantiate the API with config options, obtained from the dashboard at app.alpaca.markets.

const alpaca = new Alpaca({
  keyId: 'AKFZXJH121U18SHHDRFO',
  secretKey: 'pnq4YHlpMF3LhfLyOvmdfLmlz6BnASrTPQIASeiU',
  paper: true,
  usePolygon: false
})

Note: keyId and secretKey may also be specified by setting the APCA_API_KEY_ID and APCA_API_SECRET_KEY environment variables, respectively. Also, rather than specifying paper, you may set APCA_API_BASE_URL as an environment variable to direct your API calls to the paper trading API.

Call methods, which will return a promise.

alpaca.getAccount().then((account) => {
  console.log('Current Account:', account)
})

The websocket api is a good way to watch and react to the market we have 2 types of websockets:

• data websocket: get updates data equities
• account/trade websocket: get updates on your account

please refer to this example code to see how to use the websockets.

Data WS

you could use one of the 2 websockets we provide:

1. The Alpaca WS
2. The Polygon WS

The default WS is Alpaca. and you could use it even if you don't have a funded account. The polygon WS can only be used with a funded account.
In order to use the Polygon WS you need to pass this parameter to the Alpaca constructor usePolygon: true

Subscribing to the different WS

The other difference is the way we subscribe to different channels.

Alpaca

  client.subscribe(['alpacadatav1/T.FB', 'alpacadatav1/Q.AAPL', 'alpacadatav1/AM.GOOG'])

Polygon

  client.subscribe(['T.FB', 'Q.AAPL', 'AM.GOOG', 'A.TSLA'])

Example Code

const client = alpaca.data_ws
client.onConnect(function() {
  console.log("Connected")
  client.subscribe(['alpacadatav1/T.FB', 'Q.AAPL', 'A.FB', 'AM.AAPL'])
})
client.onDisconnect(() => {
  console.log("Disconnected")
})
client.onStateChange(newState => {
  console.log(`State changed to ${newState}`)
})
client.onStockTrades(function(subject, data) {
  console.log(`Stock trades: ${subject}, price: ${data.price}`)
})
client.onStockQuotes(function(subject, data) {
  console.log(`Stock quotes: ${subject}, bid: ${data.bidprice}, ask: ${data.askprice}`)
})
client.onStockAggSec(function(subject, data) {
  console.log(`Stock agg sec: ${subject}, ${data}`)
})
client.onStockAggMin(function(subject, data) {
  console.log(`Stock agg min: ${subject}, ${data}`)
})
client.connect()

Account WS

used like this

const updates_client = this.alpaca.trade_ws
updates_client.onConnect(function () {
    console.log("Connected")
    const trade_keys = ['trade_updates', 'account_updates']
    updates_client.subscribe(trade_keys);
})
updates_client.onDisconnect(() => {
    console.log("Disconnected")
})
updates_client.onStateChange(newState => {
    console.log(`State changed to ${newState}`)
})
updates_client.onOrderUpdate(data => {
    console.log(`Order updates: ${JSON.stringify(data)}`)
})
updates_client.onAccountUpdate(data => {
    console.log(`Account updates: ${JSON.stringify(data)}`)
})
updates_client.connect()

Methods

As a general rule, required method parameters are passed as plain function arguments, and the final parameter is an object containing any optional parameters to the method.

Account API

Get Account

Calls GET /account and returns the current account.

getAccount() => Promise<Account>

Account Configurations API

Get Account Configurations

Calls GET /account/configurations and returns the current account configurations.

getAccountConfigurations() => Promise<AccountConfigurations>

Update Account Configurations

Calls PATCH /account/configurations to update the account configurations, and returns the updated configurations.

updateAccountConfigurations(AccountConfigurations) => Promise<AccountConfigurations>

Get Account Activities

Calls GET /account/activities and returns account actvities.

getActivities({
  activityTypes: string | string[], // Any valid activity type
  until: Date,
  after: Date,
  direction: string,
  date: Date,
  pageSize: number
}) => Promise<AccountActivity[]>

Portfolio History API

Get Portfolio History

Calls GET /account/portfolio/history and returns portfolio history.

getPortfolioHistory({
  date_start: Date,
  date_end: Date,
  period: '1M' | '3M' | '6M' | '1A' | 'all' | 'intraday',
  timeframe: '1Min' | '5Min' | '15Min' | '1H' | '1D',
  extended_hours: Boolean
}) => Promise<PortfolioHistory>

Orders API

Create Order

Calls POST /orders and creates a new order.

createOrder({
  symbol: string, // any valid ticker symbol
  qty: number,
  side: 'buy' | 'sell',
  type: 'market' | 'limit' | 'stop' | 'stop_limit',
  time_in_force: 'day' | 'gtc' | 'opg' | 'ioc',
  limit_price: number,
  stop_price: number,
  client_order_id: string // optional
}) => Promise<Order>

Get Orders

Calls GET /orders and returns a list of orders.

getOrders({
  status: 'open' | 'closed' | 'all',
  after: Date,
  until: Date,
  limit: number,
  direction: 'asc' | 'desc'
}) => Promise<Order[]>

Get Order by ID

Calls GET /orders/{id} and returns an order.

getOrder(uuid) => Promise<Order>

Get Order by Client ID

Calls GET /orders:by_client_order_id and returns an order by client_order_id. You can set client_order_id upon order creation to more easily keep track of your orders.

getOrderByClientOrderId(string) => Promise<Order>

Update Order by ID

Calls PATCH /orders/{id} and updates an existing open order. The updated order will have a new ID.

replaceOrder(uuid) => Promise<Order>

Cancel Order

Calls DELETE /orders/{id} and deletes an order.

cancelOrder(uuid) => Promise

Cancel all Orders

Calls DELETE /orders and deletes all open orders.

cancelAllOrders() => Promise

Positions API

Get Position

Calls GET /positions/{symbol} and returns a position.

getPosition(symbol) => Promise<Position>

Get All Positions

Calls GET /positions and returns all positions.

getPositions() => Promise<Position[]>

Close a Position

Calls DELETE /positions/{symbol} and liquidates your position in the given symbol.

closePosition(symbol) => Promise

Close all Positions

Calls DELETE /positions and liquidates all open positions.

closeAllPositions() => Promise

Assets API

Get All Assets

Calls GET /assets and returns assets matching your parameters.

getAssets({
  status: 'active' | 'inactive',
  asset_class: string
}) => Promise<Asset[]>

Get information about an asset

Calls GET /assets/{symbol} and returns an asset entity.

getAsset(symbol) => Promise<Asset>

Calendar API

Calls GET /calendar and returns the market calendar.

getCalendar({ start: Date, end: Date }) => Promise<Calendar[]>

Data API

Get Bars

getBars(
  'minute' | '1Min' | '5Min' | '15Min' | 'day' | '1D',
  symbol | symbol[], // which ticker symbols to get bars for
  {
    limit: number,
    start: date string yyyy-mm-dd,
    end: date string yyyy-mm-dd,
    after: date string yyyy-mm-dd,
    until: date string yyyy-mm-dd
  }
) => Promise<BarsObject>

example

this.alpaca.getBars('1Min', ['AAPL', 'TSLA'], {start:'2020-04-20', end:'2020-04-29'}).then((response) => {
          console.log(response)
        })

Get Aggregates

getAggregates(
  symbol: string,
  timespan: 'minute', 'hour', 'day', 'week', 'month', 'quarter', 'year',
  from: Date,
  to: Date,
) => Promise<AggregatesObject>

example

this.alpaca.getAggregates('AAPL', 'minute', '2020-04-20', '2020-04-20').then((response) => {
          console.log(response)
        })

Last trade

lastTrade(
  symbol: string)
) => Promise<LastTradeObject>

example

this.alpaca.lastTrade('AAPL').then((response) => {
          console.log(response)
        })

Last quote

lastQuote(
  symbol: string)
) => Promise<LastQuoteObject>

example

this.alpaca.lastQuote('AAPL').then((response) => {
          console.log(response)
        })

Websockets

When to use which websocket?

1. first of all - if you don't have a funded account you cannot use the polygon websocket.
   The data in the Alpaca websocket is free (currently in beta) and this is your only option.
2. if you do have a funded account read the docs to understand exactly what are the differences between the data streams
   

Now since there's is a redundancy in the data we assume that if you use one you will not use the other.
The way you select which websocket to use is by setting the usePolygon argument when creating the Alpaca instance (see example above).

Working with websocket

• The websocket is created when you creating the Alpaca instance

• let websocket = alpaca.data_ws: Get the websocket client instance.

• websocket.connect(): Connect to the Alpaca server using websocket.

• client.onConnect(function() {}: all the following code should be inside this function because we should not do anything until we're connected to the websocket.

• websocket.subscribe(channels): Subscribe to the Alpaca data server and/or the Polygon server.
  Please note that Polygon and Alpaca servers use different channels.
  You need to specify the channel you want to subscribe to as specified here:
  Channels for the Polygon service: ['T.*', 'Q.*', 'A.*', 'AM.*'].
  Channels for the Alpaca data service: ['alpacadatav1/T .*', 'alpacadatav1/Q.*', 'alpacadatav1'/AM.*]

  When calling subscribe() first it will unsubscribe from any previously subscribed channels (so if you want to add channels you need to specifiy all channels you want to subscribe to).
  Channels 'trade_updates', 'account_updates' and all 'alpacadatav1 /*.*' are for the Alpaca server; the rest are for the Polygon server.
  In order to make calls to the Polygon API, you must have opened your Alpaca brokerage account. Otherwise Polygon's API will be unavailable.

Callbacks

how to get the data you subscribed to. we do this by calling these methods with our callback for each and every channel:

• websocket.onOrderUpdate(function(data)): Register callback function for the channel 'trade_updates'.
• websocket.onAccountUpdate(function(data)): Register callback function for the channel 'account_updates'.
• websocket.onStockTrades(function(data)): Register callback function for the channel 'T.<SYMBOL>' or 'alpacadatav1/T.<SYMBOL>'.
• websocket.onStockQuotes(function(data)): Register callback function for the channel 'Q.<SYMBOL>' or 'alpacadatav1/Q.<SYMBOL>'.
• websocket.onStockAggSec(function(data)): Register callback function for the channel 'A.<SYMBOL>'. (Polygon only)
• websocket.onStockAggMin(function(data)): Register callback function for the channel 'AM.<SYMBOL>' or 'alpacadatav1/AM.<SYMBOL>'.