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Academy course · $25/month

Python Broker API Automation With IBKR/Alpaca

  • 12 lessons
  • 3 modules
  • about 4 h 20 min
  • level: beginner
  • a quiz after every lesson
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Part of Academy — $25/month (paid plans open to the founding list first).

What you'll learn

Wire Python straight into Interactive Brokers and Alpaca, then run a paper-traded execution system that will not blow up while you sleep. You build the pieces in order: the connection layer, the order-lifecycle state machine, bracket protection, a pre-trade risk gate, retries with idempotency, an audit trail you can replay, monitoring with kill switches, and a capstone that welds them into one loop. Every code sample is written to compile and run against a paper account — no snippet that only works on a slide. This is position 29 of the curriculum; it assumes the broker mechanics from Market Data, Tools, And Broker Mechanics and the scaffold from Trading Automation Foundations, and it wires every risk gate back to Risk, Position Sizing, And Invalidation.

Course outline

Lesson titles and estimated times. Lessons open inside the Academy. List as of 2026-10-02.

Module 1Learn — Foundations

  1. Broker API Architecture In Plain Englishquiz20 min
  2. Paper Accounts, Live Accounts, And Permission Boundariesquiz19 min
  3. Environment Setup And Secret Handlingquiz18 min
  4. Historical Data, Streaming Data, And Data Gapsquiz23 min
  5. Order Lifecycle: Submit, Acknowledge, Fill, Cancel, Rejectquiz22 min

Module 2Practice — Apply the read

  1. Bracket Orders And Protective Logicquiz21 min
  2. Account Risk Checks Before Any Orderquiz23 min
  3. Retries, Rate Limits, Disconnects, And Idempotencyquiz23 min
  4. Logging, Audit Trails, And Incident Replayquiz22 min
  5. Paper Trading Deploymentquiz21 min

Module 3Prove — Defend the decision

  1. Monitoring And Kill Switchesquiz23 min
  2. Capstone: Paper-Traded API System With Risk Controlsquiz25 min

Part of the Academy

Part of Academy — $25/month (paid plans open to the founding list first). The Academy is every course in the catalog, not just this one. Academy and Pro are separate plans. Take one or both.

Join the waitlistStart the free course

Not sure yet? The first course, How To Learn Markets, is free with a free account. Already a member? Log in to open the lessons.

Education only. Not financial advice; not a broker. Trading is risky. All sales are final; there are no refunds.