specification: API Commons Rate Limits
specificationVersion: '0.1'
schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/interface-research/main/schema/api-commons.yml#/$defs/RateLimits
provider: Alpaca
providerId: alpaca-markets
created: '2026-07-11'
modified: '2026-07-11'
reconciled: false
tags:
- Market Data
- Trading
- Brokerage
- Rate Limiting
- Quotas
description: >-
  Alpaca applies per-account rate limits that differ by product and plan. The
  Trading API is limited to 200 requests per minute per account. The Market Data
  API is limited to 200 requests per minute on the free Basic plan and up to
  10,000 requests per minute on Algo Trader Plus. WebSocket streaming limits are
  by connection and symbol count: Basic connections are capped (one concurrent
  stock connection and a limited number of subscribed symbols), while Algo
  Trader Plus removes the symbol cap. The Broker API has its own per-partner
  limits governed by the commercial agreement. Exceeding a limit returns HTTP
  429; over-connecting a stream returns an in-band error frame
  (code 406, connection limit exceeded).
notes: >-
  Verify current numeric limits on the Alpaca rate-limit and market-data FAQ
  documentation, as tiers and caps change. WebSocket connection/symbol caps are
  enforced with stream error codes (for example 406) rather than HTTP status
  codes.
sources:
- https://docs.alpaca.markets/docs/about-market-data-api
- https://docs.alpaca.markets/docs/market-data-faq
- https://docs.alpaca.markets/docs/streaming-market-data
- https://alpaca.markets/data
responseCodes:
  throttled: 429
limits:
- name: Trading API Requests
  scope: account
  metric: requests
  limit: 200 per minute
  notes: Applies to the Trading API on api.alpaca.markets and paper-api.alpaca.markets.
- name: Market Data Requests (Basic)
  scope: account
  metric: requests
  limit: 200 per minute
  notes: Free Basic market-data plan REST limit.
- name: Market Data Requests (Algo Trader Plus)
  scope: account
  metric: requests
  limit: up to 10000 per minute
  notes: Raised REST limit on the $99/month Algo Trader Plus plan.
- name: Stock Stream Connections (Basic)
  scope: account
  metric: connections
  limit: 1 concurrent
  notes: Basic plan allows a single concurrent stock WebSocket connection.
- name: Stream Symbols (Basic)
  scope: connection
  metric: symbols
  limit: capped (for example ~30 symbols)
  notes: Basic plan limits the number of subscribed symbols; Algo Trader Plus is unlimited.
- name: Stream Symbols (Algo Trader Plus)
  scope: connection
  metric: symbols
  limit: unlimited
  notes: No symbol cap on the paid market-data plan.
- name: Broker API Requests
  scope: partner
  metric: requests
  limit: per agreement
  notes: Broker API limits are set by the commercial agreement with Alpaca.
policies:
- name: HTTP Throttling
  description: REST requests over the per-minute limit receive HTTP 429; back off and retry.
- name: Stream Connection Limit
  description: Opening more concurrent stream connections than the plan allows returns an in-band error frame with code 406 (connection limit exceeded).
- name: Backoff Strategy
  description: Clients should implement exponential backoff with jitter on 429 responses and reconnect streams with a delay after disconnects.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com