4 ms·

Congrats on launching. I'm not familiar with the space so forgive me but when you say we "build direct integrations", what does that mean? Is the data availabl

Congrats on launching. I'm not familiar with the space so forgive me but when you say we "build direct integrations", what does that mean? Is the data available by APIs or did you get someone to do something custom for you? If it's available by API, why would others screenscrape?

timothygoltser 5y ago
Thanks! Where possible, we integrate with brokerages' public APIs (we refer to these as "sanctioned integrations"). Brokerages like TD and Alpaca implement OAuth such that we can get delegated access to user accounts, but that's not the case for other brokerages (ex: Robinhood, Webull, etc.). In the latter case, we'll reverse engineer brokerage APIs, which we refer to as "direct integrations" since they use the same endpoints that the brokerage's official clients use - this has some advantages over screen-scraping, specifically in regards to auth success rates and reliability.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- hemloc_io 5y ago
  Hmmm also ignorant on this, but is that legal? I’d assume it’s a TOS violation at least. Would using this cause accounts to be banned in these direct integrations?
  - timothygoltser 5y ago
    Different brokerages take different positions on these sorts of integrations - some go after all third-party integrations aggressively (including screen scrapers), while some will turn a blind eye as long as you're not abusing their platform. For a brokerage like Robinhood, we've only seen them take enforcement actions against individuals if they send a high volume of orders in a short timeframe. It's worth noting that even with sanctioned integrations (such as the one we developed for TD Ameritrade), sending too many orders at once or not appropriately batching orders will still get you in trouble - we guide people that integrate with us through these nuances so that their users don't get angry calls from risk departments :).
    - hemloc_io 5y ago
      Haha awesome thanks for your response this seems like a super useful service. Congrats on the launch and good luck! :)
      - seandoh 5y ago
        Thanks for checking us out - really appreciate it.

timothygoltser 5y ago

Thanks! Where possible, we integrate with brokerages' public APIs (we refer to these as "sanctioned integrations"). Brokerages like TD and Alpaca implement OAuth such that we can get delegated access to user accounts, but that's not the case for other brokerages (ex: Robinhood, Webull, etc.). In the latter case, we'll reverse engineer brokerage APIs, which we refer to as "direct integrations" since they use the same endpoints that the brokerage's official clients use - this has some advantages over screen-scraping, specifically in regards to auth success rates and reliability.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
hemloc_io 5y ago
Hmmm also ignorant on this, but is that legal? I’d assume it’s a TOS violation at least. Would using this cause accounts to be banned in these direct integrations?
- timothygoltser 5y ago
  Different brokerages take different positions on these sorts of integrations - some go after all third-party integrations aggressively (including screen scrapers), while some will turn a blind eye as long as you're not abusing their platform. For a brokerage like Robinhood, we've only seen them take enforcement actions against individuals if they send a high volume of orders in a short timeframe. It's worth noting that even with sanctioned integrations (such as the one we developed for TD Ameritrade), sending too many orders at once or not appropriately batching orders will still get you in trouble - we guide people that integrate with us through these nuances so that their users don't get angry calls from risk departments :).
  - hemloc_io 5y ago
    Haha awesome thanks for your response this seems like a super useful service. Congrats on the launch and good luck! :)
    - seandoh 5y ago
      Thanks for checking us out - really appreciate it.