{"id":188,"library":"alpaca-trade-api","title":"Alpaca Trade API Python (deprecated)","description":"DEPRECATED. alpaca-trade-api (3.2.0) is the old Alpaca Python SDK — deprecated in 2022, no new features, no patches. The official replacement is 'alpaca-py' (pip install alpaca-py). LLMs heavily trained on alpaca-trade-api tutorials since it dominated for years. New projects must use alpaca-py. alpaca-trade-api still installs and partially works but uses the old v1/v2 API patterns.","status":"deprecated","version":"3.2.0","language":"python","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/alpacahq/alpaca-trade-api-python","tags":["alpaca","trading","stocks","python","deprecated","fintech"],"install":[{"cmd":"pip install alpaca-py","lang":"bash","label":"Python (use this — official replacement)"},{"cmd":"pip install alpaca-trade-api","lang":"bash","label":"Python (deprecated — do not use for new projects)"}],"dependencies":[],"imports":[{"note":"alpaca-trade-api deprecated 2022. No new features or patches. Import pattern changed — new SDK has separate clients: TradingClient, StockHistoricalDataClient, StockDataStream.","wrong":"# Deprecated — do not use for new projects\nimport alpaca_trade_api as tradeapi\n\napi = tradeapi.REST(\n    key_id='YOUR_API_KEY',\n    secret_key='YOUR_SECRET_KEY',\n    base_url='https://paper-api.alpaca.markets'\n)\naccount = api.get_account()","symbol":"alpaca-py (replacement — recommended)","correct":"# pip install alpaca-py\nfrom alpaca.trading.client import TradingClient\nfrom alpaca.trading.requests import MarketOrderRequest\nfrom alpaca.trading.enums import OrderSide, TimeInForce\n\nclient = TradingClient(\n    api_key='YOUR_API_KEY',\n    secret_key='YOUR_SECRET_KEY',\n    paper=True  # paper trading\n)\n\n# Get account\naccount = client.get_account()\nprint(account.portfolio_value)\n\n# Place market order\norder_data = MarketOrderRequest(\n    symbol='AAPL',\n    qty=1,\n    side=OrderSide.BUY,\n    time_in_force=TimeInForce.DAY\n)\norder = client.submit_order(order_data)"}],"quickstart":{"code":"# pip install alpaca-py\nfrom alpaca.trading.client import TradingClient\nfrom alpaca.trading.requests import MarketOrderRequest, GetAssetsRequest\nfrom alpaca.trading.enums import OrderSide, TimeInForce, AssetClass\nfrom alpaca.data.historical import StockHistoricalDataClient\nfrom alpaca.data.requests import StockBarsRequest\nfrom alpaca.data.timeframe import TimeFrame\nfrom datetime import datetime\n\n# Trading client\ntrading = TradingClient(\n    api_key='YOUR_KEY',\n    secret_key='YOUR_SECRET',\n    paper=True  # paper trading account\n)\n\n# Account info\naccount = trading.get_account()\nprint(f'Portfolio: ${account.portfolio_value}')\n\n# Place order\norder = trading.submit_order(MarketOrderRequest(\n    symbol='TSLA',\n    qty=1,\n    side=OrderSide.BUY,\n    time_in_force=TimeInForce.DAY\n))\nprint(f'Order {order.id}: {order.status}')\n\n# Historical data\ndata_client = StockHistoricalDataClient('YOUR_KEY', 'YOUR_SECRET')\nbars = data_client.get_stock_bars(StockBarsRequest(\n    symbol_or_symbols='AAPL',\n    timeframe=TimeFrame.Day,\n    start=datetime(2024, 1, 1)\n))\nprint(bars['AAPL'][-1].close)","lang":"python","description":"alpaca-py (replacement for alpaca-trade-api) — trading and market data."},"warnings":[{"fix":"pip install alpaca-py; from alpaca.trading.client import TradingClient","message":"alpaca-trade-api deprecated 2022. No new features or bug fixes. Official replacement is 'alpaca-py' (pip install alpaca-py).","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":"all"},{"fix":"TradingClient for orders/account. StockHistoricalDataClient for historical data. StockDataStream for live data.","message":"alpaca-py has completely different import structure. No more tradeapi.REST(). Separate clients for trading, market data, and streaming.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":"all"},{"fix":"TradingClient(api_key=..., secret_key=..., paper=True)","message":"Paper trading URL no longer needed explicitly. Pass paper=True to TradingClient instead of base_url='https://paper-api.alpaca.markets'.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"alpaca-py"},{"fix":"from alpaca.trading.requests import MarketOrderRequest; trading.submit_order(MarketOrderRequest(...))","message":"alpaca-py orders require typed request objects (MarketOrderRequest, LimitOrderRequest) — not plain dicts.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"alpaca-py"},{"fix":"Ensure you are using valid API Key ID and Secret Key for your Alpaca account. Double-check environment variables or the `api_key` and `secret_key` parameters passed directly to `TradingClient`.","message":"API calls result in 'Unauthorized' (HTTP 401) if API Key ID or Secret Key are incorrect or missing when initializing `TradingClient`. This typically manifests as an `APIError: {\"message\": \"unauthorized.\"}` exception.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"alpaca-py"},{"fix":"pip install pytz","message":"The `alpaca-py` library, particularly modules like `alpaca.data`, may implicitly depend on `pytz`, which is not always automatically installed as a direct dependency during `pip install alpaca-py`.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"alpaca-py"}],"env_vars":null,"search_vec":"'2022':20 '3.2.0':11 'alpaca':1,8,15,31,36,43,57,60,75 'alpaca-pi':30,35,56 'alpaca-trade-api':7,42,59 'api':3,10,45,62,73 'deprec':5,6,18,79 'domin':49 'featur':23 'fintech':80 'heavili':39 'instal':34,64 'llms':38 'must':54 'new':22,52 'offici':27 'old':14,71 'partial':66 'patch':25 'pattern':74 'pip':33 'project':53 'py':32,37,58 'python':4,16,78 'replac':28 'sdk':17 'sinc':47 'still':63 'stock':77 'trade':2,9,44,61,76 'train':40 'tutori':46 'use':55,69 'v1/v2':72 'work':67 'year':51","created_at":"2026-03-25T03:09:23.097977+00:00","updated_at":"2026-04-15T20:02:21.612417+00:00","problems":{"verify_error":"no import statement found"},"ecosystem":"pypi","meta_description":null,"install_score":80,"quickstart_score":0,"quickstart_tag":"stale","pypi_latest":"3.2.0","cli_name":"","cli_version":null,"type":"library","homepage":"https://alpaca.markets","github":"https://github.com/alpacahq/alpaca-trade-api-python","docs":null,"changelog":null,"pypi":"https://pypi.org/project/alpaca-trade-api/","npm":null,"openapi_spec":null,"status_page":null,"smithery":null,"categories":["payments","communication"],"base_url":null,"auth_type":null,"provenance":{"verified_status":"skip","verified_at":"2026-06-27","last_verified":"2026-06-27","next_check":"2026-07-04","install_tag":"verified"}}