About Alpaca MCP Server
Alpaca MCP Server is an MCP server for the Alpaca trading API, letting LLMs such as Claude query accounts, positions and market data and place orders through natural language. It suits users who want to manage an Alpaca account in conversation. It uses paper trading by default, and switching to real trading requires a code change.
Key features
- 01Query account balances and buying power
- 02View current positions and price history
- 03Fetch latest stock quotes
- 04Place market and limit orders
- 05List, track and cancel orders
Use cases
- 01Checking Alpaca account balance and holdings through chat
- 02Retrieving stock quotes and price history in Claude Desktop
- 03Placing or cancelling orders in a paper trading account
MCP support
Exposes account, position, market data and order tools such as get_account_info and place_market_order to MCP clients.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
We haven’t collected a package or remote endpoint for this server. Follow the instructions in the project README.
Tools
Local servers expose tools only once running on your machine, and the maintainer has not provided a tool list.
Details
From the project READMEAlpaca MCP Server
This is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Alpaca, allowing LLMs like Claude to interact with the Alpaca trading API. It enables trading stocks, checking positions, fetching market data, and managing your account - all through natural language.
Features
- 📊 Market Data - Get real-time stock quotes and historical price data
- 💵 Account Information - Check your balances, buying power, and status
- 📈 Position Management - View current positions and their performance
- 🛒 Order Placement - Place market and limit orders through natural language
- 📋 Order Management - List, track, and cancel orders
Prerequisites
- Python 3.10+
- Alpaca API keys
- Claude for Desktop or another MCP client
Installation
-
Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/alpaca-mcp.git cd alpaca-mcp -
Install the required packages:
pip install mcp alpaca-py python-dotenv -
Create a
.envfile with your Alpaca API credentials:API_KEY_ID=your_alpaca_api_key API_SECRET_KEY=your_alpaca_secret_key
Usage
Running the server
Start the server by running:
python alpaca_mcp_server.py
Configuring Claude for Desktop
- Open Claude for Desktop
- Go to Settings
- Click on "Developer" and then "Edit Config"
- Add the server configuration to
claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"alpaca": {
"command": "python",
"args": [
"/path/to/alpaca_mcp_server.py"
],
"env": {
"API_KEY_ID": "your_alpaca_api_key",
"API_SECRET_KEY": "your_alpaca_secret_key"
}
}
}
}
- Save and restart Claude for Desktop
Available Tools
The server exposes the following tools:
get_account_info()- Get account balances and statusget_positions()- List all current positions in the portfolioget_stock_quote(symbol)- Get the latest quote for a stockget_stock_bars(symbol, days)- Get historical price bars for a stockget_orders(status, limit)- List orders with specified statusplace_market_order(symbol, side, quantity)- Place a market orderplace_limit_order(symbol, side, quantity, limit_price)- Place a limit ordercancel_all_orders()- Cancel all open ordersclose_all_positions(cancel_orders)- Close all open positions
Example Queries
Once the server is connected to Claude, you can ask questions like:
- "What's my current account balance and buying power?"
- "Show me my current positions"
- "Get the latest quote for AAPL"
- "Show me the price history for TSLA over the last 10 days"
- "Buy 5 shares of MSFT at market price"
- "Sell 10 shares of AMZN with a limit price of $130"
- "Cancel all my open orders"
Note
This server uses Alpaca's paper trading by default. To use real money trading, change paper=True to paper=False in the TradingClient initialization.
Security Notice
This MCP server will have access to your Alpaca account and can place real trades. Always review what Claude is suggesting before approving any trades.
License
MIT
Comments
New to MCP?
From what the protocol is to installing your first server, these answers cover most first questions.
An open protocol that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data in a uniform way. Clients talk to the model; MCP servers provide tools, resources and prompt templates. They exchange standard messages, so one server can be reused by many clients.