We’re excited to expand our crypto trading capabilities by announcing the initial phase of Alpaca Crypto Wallets and Coin Pair trading, starting with BTC and USDT pairs. ? With these new offerings, we aim to give you a better way to deposit, withdraw, and trade with Alpaca Crypto.?
Unlock a New Level of Crypto Trading with Alpaca’s Crypto Wallets, BTC, and USDT Coin Pairs
Securely Deposit and Withdraw Coins with Crypto Wallets
Crypto wallets keep your private digital keys safe and allow you to deposit and withdraw coins faster than traditional banking rails. You can now instantly access Crypto Wallets in the sidebar on your Account Dashboard under “Crypto Transfers.”
In this initial phase, we will support Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and USDT and offer wallets shortly to users in 13 U.S. states and select international jurisdictions.
We will progressively roll out support for crypto wallets in more states, jurisdictions, coins, blockchains, and for Broker API soon.
Key Features of Alpaca Crypto Wallets
- Seamlessly deposit and withdraw Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and USDT faster than traditional banking rails
- Deposited crypto coins can be instantly used for trading
- Crypto wallets will be shortly available in select international jurisdictions and 13 U.S. states: California, Massachusetts, Montana, Missouri, Maryland, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, North Carolina, Nebraska, Utah, Connecticut, and Iowa.
Crypto Wallet Fees
Alpaca Crypto Wallets are free to use. The only fees associated are the corresponding network fees for transferring coins in and out.
Ready to get started with Crypto Wallets? Click here to access Crypto Transfers. For more information, read our Crypto Wallets FAQ
Start Non-USD Pair Trading with BTC, USDT Coin Pairs
We are thrilled to announce the opportunity for our users to tap into a new dimension of crypto trading with the introduction of Alpaca’s Coin Pair Trading. This means you can buy a crypto asset with another crypto asset.
Until now, Alpaca’s crypto offering has been limited to USD-pair trading. With the launch of Coin Pair Trading and USD pairs, all Alpaca users can now trade, compare costs, and access arbitrage opportunities with supported coin pairs of Bitcoin (BTC), the leading coin by market cap, and Tether (USDT), one of the largest stablecoins pegged to the US dollar.
Compared to the US dollar, USDT can provide faster access to liquidity. This makes it easier for crypto-only exchanges and brokers to buy assets that can only be purchased with other crypto assets. In short, stablecoins make it easier to understand the value of these assets
Benefits of Coin Pair Trading
Here are a few key benefits of engaging in coin pair trading.
- Some crypto assets can only be bought with other crypto assets
- There can be interesting arbitrage opportunities
- It reduces the net number of trades/transactions needed to get to a specific outcome. Instead of converting BTC > local currency or USD > ETH, you can buy ETH directly with a fraction of a BTC token.
For the initial launch of Alpaca Coin Pair Trading, we are launching with BTC and USDT as the base currencies.
- BTC pairs (BCH, ETH, LTC, UNI)
- USDT pairs (AAVE, BCH, BTC, DAI, ETH, LINK, LTC, UNI)
- USD pairs (AAVE, BAT, BCH, BTC, DAI, ETH, GRT, LINK, LTC, MKR, SHIB, UNI, USDT)
We have plans to support more Coin Pairs and offer this feature for Broker API soon.
New Symbology for Coin Pairs
Alpaca users will be able to place coin pair orders on the Alpaca Dashboard and via the API.
A minor change is required on the API side and you would need to make sure you are placing the order for the right asset.
As part of the launch of Coin Pairs, we will update the symbology for orders and market data. Previously, when you were trading BTC, you would place an order with the symbol BTCUSD. You will now be able to search and place orders for assets such as ETH/BTC or ETH/USDT.
{
"symbol": "ETH/BTC",
"qty": "1.4",
"side": "buy",
"type": "market",
"time_in_force": "gtc",
}How to Coin Pair Trade on Alpaca
- Simply search for the asset you would like to coin pair trade with.
- Input the quantity of crypto asset you would like to purchase (in this example we are buying 1.4 ETH in exchange for 0.08 BTC)
- Click Review order
Key Features of Alpaca Coin Pairs
- Deposit supported cryptocurrencies (or buy cryptocurrency on Alpaca with USD) in your wallet and trade them for other coins without converting to fiat currency
- Unlock BTC, USDT, and USD coin pairs for trading, price comparisons, arbitrage opportunities, and more
- View each cryptocurrency’s balance on your dashboard via the API
- Access real-time and historical price data for supported coin pairs
- View available coin pairs with the new symbology using Alpaca’s Assets endpoint
For more information, check out our Coin Pair FAQs, learn article on Triangular Arbitrage with Coin Pair Trading, and updated Crypto trading documentation.
Open your Alpaca Trading Account today!
Gareth Wu
Contact Us
Please note that this article is for informational purposes only and is believed to be accurate and reliable as of posting date but may be subject to change.Alpaca Crypto LLC does not recommend any specific cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrency is highly speculative in nature, involves a high degree of risks, such as volatile market price swings, market manipulation, flash crashes, and cybersecurity risks. Cryptocurrency is not regulated or is lightly regulated in most countries. Cryptocurrency trading can lead to large, immediate and permanent loss of financial value. You should have appropriate knowledge and experience before engaging in cryptocurrency trading. For additional information please click here.
