IBKR 3rd Party Web API

{
  "service_type": "platform",
  "base_url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com",
  "auth_method": "oauth2",
  "auth_config": {
    "notes": "IBKR Web API for third-party companies uses OAuth 1.0a with consumer key/secret, access token/secret, and RSA/DH signature. Account holders must grant access via Client Portal. Other IBKR APIs (TWS API, Client Portal Web API) use gateway/session-token patterns. MCP-based AI integrations authenticate via IBKR's secure permission flow without sharing API keys or passwords.",
    "auth_methods_supported": [
      "OAuth 1.0a (Web API for 3rd parties)",
      "Client Portal Gateway session token",
      "TWS API socket connection",
      "MCP-based authorization (AI integrations)"
    ]
  },
  "endpoints": [
    {
      "name": "IBKR API Home",
      "url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/campus/ibkr-api-page/ibkr-api-home/"
    },
    {
      "name": "TWS API Documentation",
      "url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/campus/ibkr-api-page/twsapi-doc/"
    },
    {
      "name": "TWS API Reference",
      "url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/campus/ibkr-api-page/twsapi-ref/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Web API Documentation",
      "url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/campus/ibkr-api-page/web-api/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Web API Reference",
      "url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/campus/ibkr-api-page/webapi-ref/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Web API Trading",
      "url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/campus/ibkr-api-page/web-api-trading/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Web API Account Management",
      "url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/campus/ibkr-api-page/web-api-account-management/"
    },
    {
      "name": "AI Integrations",
      "url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/ai-integrations.php"
    }
  ],
  "pricing_model": {
    "type": "freemium",
    "details": {
      "notes": "IBKR is a broker-dealer; the 'pricing' is primarily commission-based (Lite vs Pro). API access is available to account holders, typically at no additional software fee, though market data subscriptions and account minimums/commissions may apply.",
      "pricing_url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/general/compare-lite-pro",
      "margin_rates_url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/margin-rates"
    }
  },
  "rate_limits": {
    "notes": "IBKR enforces per-connection message/request pacing limits (e.g., historical data request throttling, market data line limits tied to subscriptions). Exact values are documented in TWS API and Web API reference pages and vary by data type."
  },
  "capabilities": [
    "Brokerage trading (stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, funds)",
    "Programmatic order placement and management",
    "Real-time and historical market data",
    "Account management, positions, balances, P&L",
    "Portfolio analysis (PortfolioAnalyst) and benchmarking (GlobalAnalyst)",
    "Risk metrics, margin availability, option chains",
    "MCP-based AI integrations (ChatGPT, Claude, Grok) for portfolio-aware analysis",
    "AI-generated trade instructions with client approval workflow",
    "Multi-platform access: TWS, IBKR Desktop, Mobile, Client Portal, GlobalTrader",
    "Regulated multi-region brokerage (US, EU, UK, HK, SG, CA)",
    "KYC/AML-compliant onboarding",
    "Educational content via IBKR Campus for definitions, how-to, and concepts"
  ],
  "raw_analysis": "Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is a mature, globally regulated broker-dealer rather than a typical SaaS platform. Its 'IBKR 3rd Party Web API' targets third-party companies and developers integrating trading, market data, and account management programmatically. Historically, third-party integrations leveraged the TWS API (socket-based) or the Client Portal Web API; the Web API for 3rd Party Companies uses OAuth 1.0a to allow external firms to act on behalf of clients with explicit permission.\n\nMaturity: Very high. IBKR has one of the most established brokerage APIs in the industry, with extensive documentation on IBKR Campus (twsapi-doc, twsapi-ref, web-api, webapi-ref, web-api-trading, web-api-account-management).\n\nAudience: Quantitative traders, fintech developers, institutional integrators, and now AI platform users via Model Context Protocol (MCP). The recent MCP AI integration allows ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and other MCP-compatible apps to connect securely to IBKR accounts for portfolio analysis, research, risk monitoring, and trade planning, with mandatory client review and approval before order submission.\n\nPricing: Commission-based (Lite vs Pro), with separate margin rates. API access generally does not carry a discrete software fee but market data and commissions apply. Not a freemium SaaS in the conventional sense, though account opening is free and there may be trial/demo environments.\n\nRate limits: Governed by market data subscriptions and per-connection throttling; details scattered across API reference pages.\n\nIntegration s

3/3 tests passed

{
  "overall": 82,
  "dimensions": {
    "token_efficiency": 8.5,
    "first_try_success": 5.5,
    "response_parseability": 9.0,
    "error_clarity": 8.0,
    "doc_quality": 9.0,
    "auth_simplicity": 4.0,
    "latency": 9.5,
    "consistency": 9.0
  },
  "pricing_normalized": {
    "model": "freemium",
    "notes": "Commission-based broker (Lite vs Pro); API access usually free for account holders but market data subscriptions and account minimums apply",
    "pricing_url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/general/compare-lite-pro",
    "margin_rates_url": "https://www.interactivebrokers.com/margin-rates"
  },
  "issues": [
    "Onboarding requires full KYC/AML and funded account — not agent-friendly or instant",
    "No 'Sign in with Notlogin' style agent-native identity flow; auth requires human account setup",
    "Value prop spans many product surfaces (TWS, Desktop, Mobile, Portal, GlobalTrader, MCP integrations), making concise agent description harder",
    "robots.txt disallows several paths (/search/, /referral/, etc.), limiting some crawler-based discovery"
  ],
  "recommendations": [
    "Publish a concise llms.txt 'quickstart' section mapping the 3-5 highest-value agent actions (e.g., MCP portfolio analysis, order placement, market data) to exact endpoints/tools",
    "Offer a documented sandbox/paper-trading API key path so agents can demo without full KYC onboarding",
    "Expose a single canonical 'capabilities + pricing' JSON endpoint agents can fetch instead of parsing marketing pages",
    "Add explicit error/limitation sections in llms.txt (rate limits, region restrictions, market data entitlements) to improve error_clarity",
    "Consider an agent-verifiable identity flow (OAuth device flow or magic-link) to reduce auth friction while keeping compliance"
  ]
}