Crypto Trading
We now offer crypto trading through our API and the Alpaca web dashboard! Trade all day, seven days a week, as frequently as you’d like.
Crypto trading is currently in open beta!
Crypto trading is currently available for eligible international participants and participants in the following US jurisdictions: California, Massachusetts, Missouri and Montana. Existing Alpaca users in approved jurisdictions can enable crypto trading capabilities now via the dashboard.
New users in approved jurisdictions can sign up for an account here to start trading crypto now.
Eligibility
Currently crypto is enabled in beta for eligible participants in the approved jurisdictions indicated above. Please stay tuned for additional announcements as we work to broaden our eligibility criteria to include additional states and countries.
Supported Assets
The list of supported cryptocurrencies includes BTC, BCH, ETH, and LTC. We constantly evaluate the list and aim to grow the number of supported currencies.
Tradable cryptocurrencies can be identified through the assets API where the asset entity has class = crypto and tradable = true.
{
"id": "bbaf7b16-956e-45dc-96a6-c19f90036ecc",
"class": "crypto",
"exchange": "crypto",
"symbol": "BTCUSD",
"name": "",
"status": "active",
"tradable": true,
"marginable": false,
"shortable": false,
"easy_to_borrow": false,
"fractionable": true
}
Please note that the symbol appears with USD, such as BTCUSD instead of BTC.
Supported Orders
When submitting crypto orders through the orders API and the Alpaca web dashboard, Market, Limit and Stop Limit orders are supported while the supported
time_in_force values are day, gtc, ioc, and fok. We accept fractional
orders as well with either notional or qty provided.
Learn more about orders and fractional trading.
All cryptocurrency assets are fractionable but the supported decimal points vary depending on the cryptocurrency.
| Symbol | Minimum Qty | Qty Increment | Price Increment |
|---|---|---|---|
| BTCUSD | 0.001 | 0.0001 | $0.10 |
| BCHUSD | 0.01 | 0.0001 | $0.01 |
| ETHUSD | 0.01 | 0.0001 | $0.01 |
| LTCUSD | 0.1 | 0.0001 | $0.01 |
Note these values could change in the future.
Margin and Short Selling
Cryptocurrencies are non-marginable. This means that you cannot use leverage to
buy them and orders are evaluated against non_marginable_buying_power.
Cryptocurrencies are not shortable.
Market Data
Crypto market data is provided through both the Free and Unlimited data plans.
Transferring Crypto
At this time, we don’t support transfers of crypto in or out of your account. You have to fund your Alpaca account in USD first through the regular funding methods.
Trading Hours
Crypto trading is offered for 24 hours everyday and your orders will be executed throughout the day.