Alpaca is an API infrastructure and licensed financial services company that enables developers and businesses to offer stock and crypto investing to their end-customers. Through its API-first platform, Alpaca provides the backend technology and regulatory compliance required for embedding investing features into apps and products.
Alpaca’s technology appeals to fintech startups, trading platforms, and businesses seeking to launch or enhance investing experiences without building brokerage infrastructure from scratch. Their platform supports stock and crypto trading via easy-to-integrate APIs, making it possible for companies to build investing apps, automate trading strategies, or embed investing directly into financial products.
What technology enables Alpaca’s platform?
Alpaca leverages a modern, developer-focused API stack that abstracts away the complexities of brokerage operations. By handling order routing, account management, compliance, and market data, Alpaca allows clients to focus on user experience and innovation rather than regulatory or infrastructure burdens. The platform is designed for scalability and global reach, supporting clients in different regions and offering both U.S. equities and cryptocurrency trading.
Who uses Alpaca?
Alpaca serves more than 100 companies worldwide, ranging from fintech startups to established platforms looking to add investing capabilities. Their customers typically include:
- Fintech apps
- Robo-advisors
- Wealth management platforms
- Trading automation tools
- Financial services firms seeking to embed investing for their users
Who are Alpaca’s competitors?
Alpaca operates within the fintech API and brokerage infrastructure space, competing with a range of established and emerging providers. Notable competitors include:
- QuantConnect: Offers algorithmic trading for stocks, options, and currencies, with libraries for C# and Python.
- TradersPost: Automates trading strategies across stocks, crypto, options, and futures, integrating with brokers like Tradovate and TradeStation.
- Tradier: Provides scalable, secure REST-based brokerage APIs for businesses and developers.
- Interactive Brokers: Delivers robust APIs for custom trading applications across global markets.
- Polygon.io: Supplies real-time and historical stock data APIs for developers and businesses.
- TradeStation: Offers APIs for real-time and historical data, and fast order execution.
- IG: Provides APIs for live market data, historical prices, and trading execution.
Each competitor offers distinct features or regional coverage, but Alpaca differentiates itself through its focus on ease of integration, regulatory licensing, and support for both stock and crypto investing via modern APIs.
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