API Trading:
Build Your Workflow.
Execute Through TradeZero.

TradeZero Developer is an execution-first API for your TradeZero account.

Trade equities and options, pull account and positions, and run short locates through code.

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The TradeZero API Developer Portal and Documents are provided for individual use only. For complete terms and conditions please see the TradeZero Application Interface Licensing Agreement. API trading requires technical knowledge and skill, and you are responsible for developing and testing your own API user interface. TradeZero is not responsible for the accuracy of any market data displayed via API or made available by third party providers. There may be latency between the time an order (or other information) is submitted from API and the time the order is received by TradeZero. Orders submitted via API are not vetted until they are received by TradeZero’s order server. TradeZero reserves the right to reject orders placed through API.

What’s Different About API Trading?

Trade Through Code

Trade Through Code

Place, modify, and cancel orders programmatically instead of clicking through a platform UI. Send authenticated requests directly to TradeZero systems from your own environment.

Build Around Your Workflow

Build Around Your Workflow

Create custom order entry, dashboards, and logic tailored to how you actually trade. Your strategy drives the interface, not the other way around.

Connect Signals To Execution

Connect Signals To Execution

Run analysis in your own stack, then route trades through TradeZero. Move from signal to order placement inside your workflow.

Streamline Operational Processes

Streamline Operational Processes

Manage positions, monitor buying power, and integrate short locate workflows directly into your codebase. Keep execution and oversight inside one system.

Platform Execution,

Through Code

Orders submitted via TradeZero Developer follow the same order management,

risk validation, and routing process as orders placed through TradeZero platforms.

No separate execution path.

Trading API Capabilities

Execution, account state, options, and short locates in one API.

Order Execution API

Submit, modify, and cancel live equity orders directly against TradeZero’s execution infrastructure. Supports market, limit, stop, and advanced order handling with full account and buying power validation before execution.

Short Locate API

Search, reserve, and manage short locates programmatically. Integrate locate pricing, availability, and returns directly into your strategy logic, without manual intervention. Designed to support active short-selling workflows.

Options Trading API

Programmatic access to single-leg options trading, including order placement, position tracking, and risk exposure monitoring. Designed for traders who want programmatic entry and exit tied to their own signals.

Account And Positions API

Real-time visibility into balances, positions, buying power, and open orders. Ensure your strategies act on accurate account state before and after every execution decision.

An API For Active Traders

Custom Trading Interface

Build order entry around how you actually trade. Create HotKeys, presets, and one-click actions that map to your setups, risk rules, and routing preferences.

Model To Execution

Run research and signal generation in your own stack, then execute through the API with account state, buying power, and open orders validated before execution.

Short Seller Workflow

Keep locates inside your workflow, not in a separate screen. Check availability, reserve shares, manage inventory, and execute shorts as one continuous process.

Multi Account Management

Monitor multiple accounts in one view and switch between them for order entry. Centralize positions, exposure checks, and P&L tracking without logging in and out.

No API Access Fee

TradeZero Developer does not charge an additional fee to trade through the API.

Why Use An API With TradeZero?

TradeZero Developer provides API access for programmatic execution and account workflows: orders, account state, options strategies, and short locates.

From locate discovery to execution and inventory management, the API is designed around the realities of short selling. Locates are not an add-on. They are a core capability.

Locates Built For Short Workflows

Submit single-leg options orders through the API, so execution stays aligned with your custom options ticket.

Options Submission Through Code

API activity is controlled and traceable. Requests are authenticated and rate limited, and orders are tagged for traceability inside TradeZero systems.

Controls And Traceability

Start API Trading In No Time

Set it up once. Then trade from your build.

1

Enable

Enable the API Trading add-on in the Client Portal and sign the API Trading Agreement.

2

Sign

Review and electronically sign the API Trading Agreement to activate access.

3

Generate

Create your API Key ID and Secret Key. Save the Secret Key when it appears.

Open Account

Short Selling Locates,
Programmatic End-To-End

Run short locates through API. Request quotes, reserve shares,

manage inventory, sell back unused locates for credit,

and review locate history with audit details.

Learn More

Before You Go Live

API access for traders building their own infrastructure.

The API is designed strictly for order execution and account interaction. Market data must be sourced separately.

Execution-First

Requests are authenticated and throttled to protect account integrity and platform stability.

Security, Controls, And Rate Limits

Validate logic and workflows in a non-production environment before requesting live access.

Paper Environment For Testing

API access is for your own trading activity and may not be shared or resold.

Personal Use Only

FAQs

  • A trading API lets you place orders and access account information through code instead of a trading platform UI. It is commonly used to build custom order entry, dashboards, and execution workflows.

  • TradeZero API Trading, called TradeZero Developer, is an execution-only API for personal use on a TradeZero account. It supports equities and options execution, account and positions access, and short locate workflows. It does not provide market data.

  • No. It does not provide quotes, charts, or historical prices.

  • You can place equity and single-leg options orders through the API.

  • Yes. The locate workflow is available through API, including ETB checks, locate quotes, reserve, inventory management, sell-back credit for unused locates, and locate history with audit details.

  • Enable the API Trading add-on in the Client Portal and sign the API Trading Agreement. Then generate your API Key ID and Secret Key. Save the Secret Key when it appears because it is shown only once.

  • Default rate limit is 200 requests per minute per account.

  • Yes. A Paper Environment is available for testing, with isolated keys and functional parity to live, including options strategies and locate workflows.

  • No. It is for personal use on your own trading activity. Operating a third-party platform requires a separate Broker API arrangement.

TradeZero America, Inc., a United States broker-dealer, is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC); TradeZero, Inc., a Bahamian broker-dealer, is registered with the Securities Commission of The Bahamas; TradeZero Canada Securities ULC, a Canadian broker-dealer, is a member firm of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF); and TradeZero Europe B.V., a Dutch broker dealer, authorized and regulated by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). Collectively, these entities are referred to as the "TradeZero Broker-Dealers", and are subsidiaries of TradeZero Holding Corp.

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TradeZero Broker-Dealers offer self-directed electronic securities trading services. They do not provide financial or trading advice, nor do they make investment recommendations. This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security or financial instrument mentioned.

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There are risks associated with online securities trading, including equities and options. Trading on margin is intended for experienced investors only, as losses can exceed the initial investment.

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Short selling is extremely risky and can potentially lead to unlimited losses.

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Click here see the Day Trading Risk Disclosure.

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Options trading is not suitable for all investors as it can involve risk that may expose investors to significant losses. Please read the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options, also known as the Options Disclosure Document (ODD) before deciding to engage in options trading. Please also see the Options Trading Disclosure.

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You must be approved to trade multi-leg options strategies. You may lose all of your principal. Executing multi-leg options orders may result in increased transaction fees compared to single-leg options orders. Multi-leg options strategies may exhibit risks such as illiquidity and increased sensitivity to market unpredictability.

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Please see here for additional disclosures.

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If you have specific questions regarding TradeZero’s brokerage services, please contact the TradeZero Broker-Dealer servicing your jurisdiction.