Alpaca vs Interactive Brokers on TradersPost

Alpaca and Interactive Brokers differ on 13 of 21 points TradersPost compares: stock options, crypto, short selling, fractional quantity and 9 more. Both support stocks, market orders, limit orders, stop limit orders and paper accounts.

Alpaca Interactive Brokers

  • Stock Options

    Supported

    Not supported

  • Crypto

    Supported

    Not supported

  • Short selling

    Partial

    All but Crypto

    Supported

  • Fractional quantity

    Partial

    All but Stock Options

    Not supported

  • Stop orders

    Limited

    Crypto: Stop-limit only. Plain stop orders are not offered.

    Supported

  • Trailing stops

    Partial

    All but Crypto and Stock Options

    Supported

  • Bracket orders

    Partial

    All but Crypto and Stock Options

    Supported

  • Day orders

    Partial

    All but Crypto

    Supported

  • Good till canceled orders

    Partial

    All but Stock Options

    Supported

  • Immediate or cancel orders

    Partial

    All but Stock Options

    Supported

  • Fill or kill orders

    Partial

    All but Crypto and Stock Options

    Not supported

  • Trailing stop attached to entry

    Not supported

    Supported

  • Modify open orders

    Supported

    Not supported

Alpaca: short selling and day orders aren't available on crypto.

Alpaca: fractional quantity, good till canceled orders and immediate or cancel orders aren't available on stock options.

Alpaca: trailing stops, bracket orders and fill or kill orders aren't available on crypto and stock options.

Same on both 6

  • Stocks
  • Market orders
  • Limit orders
  • Stop limit orders
  • Paper accounts
  • Authentication: OAuth

Neither supports 2

  • Index Options
  • Futures

Link to this comparison /compare/connections/alpaca-vs-ibkr

See order support for every connection

Brokers change their rules, so check their docs before you connect. TradersPost does not recommend a broker.

Worth knowing about each

Alpaca

  • Alpaca does not accept index-option orders through TradersPost. Use stock or ETF options, or a broker that lists index options.
  • Complex order classes (OCO, OTO, bracket) are not sent for Alpaca crypto or options.
  • Crypto on Alpaca is long-only through TradersPost. Trailing stops are not sent for Alpaca options.

View Alpaca connection View Alpaca docs

Interactive Brokers

  • Stocks only. IBKR futures, options, and crypto are not sent through this WebAPI integration, even when those products exist in TWS.
  • IBKR allows one active login session per username. Logging into TWS or the IBKR mobile app with the same username can interrupt automated orders.
  • The North America API reset window is 23:45–00:45 ET. Signals in that window can fail even with retries.

View Interactive Brokers connection View Interactive Brokers docs

More comparisons