Most brokerage integrations give you either data or execution; this gives both, so a position check, an options-chain lookup and the order that follows are three calls in one conversation rather than three tabs. The documentation tools matter more than they look — when a parameter is ambiguous the model can read Alpaca's own API reference instead of guessing the schema.
Alpaca's own MCP server, running against a live or paper Alpaca account: order placement across stocks, options and crypto, position and account management, historical and latest market data, and search over Alpaca's documentation and API reference. Paper trading is the default until you say otherwise.
- Stock, crypto and single- or multi-leg options orders placed through place_stock_order, place_crypto_order and place_option_order, then replaced or cancelled by id
- The account as it stands — get_all_positions, get_open_position, get_account_info, get_portfolio_history — and one position or every position closed in a single call
- Historical bars, quotes and trades for stocks, crypto and option contracts, with the lookback given as days, hours or minutes instead of explicit start dates
- Latest snapshots, quotes, trades and crypto orderbooks, plus get_market_movers and get_most_active_stocks off real-time SIP data
- The options chain worked properly: get_option_chain and get_option_snapshot return implied volatility and greeks per contract, and exercise_options_position and do_not_exercise_options_position submit the matching instructions
- Whether the market is open (get_clock), what the trading calendar says (get_calendar), and which corporate actions are announced (get_corporate_action_announcements)
- News articles for stocks and crypto, index values, and latest quotes on bonds and treasuries by ISIN
- Account configuration read and changed — trading restrictions, margin settings, PDT checks and options trading level
- Alpaca's own docs and OpenAPI specs searched from the same session through search_alpaca_docs, search_alpaca_api_specs and get_alpaca_endpoint_docs
- Watchlists and short-sale locates kept in order through create_watchlist, create_locate and get_locate_quotes
- A smaller tool list when you want one: ALPACA_TOOLSETS takes any of account, trading, watchlists, assets, stock-data, crypto-data, options-data, corporate-actions, news, fixed-income-data and locates
Python 3.10 or newer with uv, and an Alpaca account: ALPACA_API_KEY and ALPACA_SECRET_KEY, which a free paper account gives you. ALPACA_PAPER_TRADE defaults to true — orders go to the paper account until you set it to false and supply live keys, which is the one setting that decides whether real money moves. Configuration lives in the MCP client's env block; the older .env and init flow is gone, and none of the version 1 tool names survived the rewrite.
One command plus a key — uvx alpaca-mcp-server, then supply credentials