# Interactive Brokers API: questions and answers Independent and unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any broker or platform named here. Educational only: nothing here is advice, and nothing here recommends a broker or a trade. This is the markdown version of https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/ibkr, written from the same records as that page. Risk warning: CFDs and spread bets are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You can lose money on these products, and each provider publishes its own loss figure under FCA rules. You should consider whether you understand how they work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Automated and API trading can amplify losses through bugs, connectivity failures and runaway orders. 7 questions about the Interactive Brokers API, each answered from the Interactive Brokers record on this site (https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/ibkr) and nothing else. - Newest check: 2026-10-12 - Official documentation: [interactivebrokers.com](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/tws-api/doc/introduction) An answer here is the record's own wording, cut at the end of a sentence, or a list of names read from records. An answer that opens with the word Unverified has no dated source behind it. Where this page and the provider's own documentation differ, the documentation wins. Nothing here recommends a broker. ## Interactive Brokers API questions ### Does Interactive Brokers have an API? Yes. This register records Interactive Brokers as having its own API (TWS API (TCP socket), REST (Client Portal Web API) and WebSocket), with availability marked as active. TWS API (socket via TWS or IB Gateway), and a single IBKR Web API that IBKR is folding Client Portal Web API, Digital Account Management and the Flex Web Service into. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR TWS API documentation, introduction](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/tws-api/doc/introduction), checked 2026-10-12. - [The Interactive Brokers API record](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/ibkr) ### Does Interactive Brokers have a demo or paper trading API? Partial: paper trading accounts are supported and the Web API is logged in to with a separate paper username; demo accounts cannot subscribe to data. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR Web API documentation, using a paper account](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/web-api/authentication/paper), checked 2026-10-12. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR Web API v1.0 documentation, requirements and limitations](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/web-api/v1/requirements-limitations/introduction), checked 2026-10-12. - [The Interactive Brokers record's full wording](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/ibkr#access) ### What are Interactive Brokers's API rate limits? The limits register holds 6 limit records for the Interactive Brokers API, each with its own scope: Global requests a second (Web API), Historical market data requests, Market data snapshot requests a second, Order and trade list requests, Session validation requests a minute and Session keep alive requests a second. - Status: verified. Source: [ibkrcampus.com](https://www.ibkrcampus.com/campus/ibkr-api-page/webapi-doc/), checked 2026-10-12. - Status: verified. Source: [interactivebrokers.com](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/web-api/trading/usage-and-availability/pacing-limitations), checked 2026-10-12. - [Interactive Brokers API rate limits in full, each with its scope](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/ibkr/rate-limits) ### How do I authenticate with the Interactive Brokers API? TWS API: local socket to a TWS or IB Gateway the user has logged in to by hand. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR TWS API documentation, the IB Gateway](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/tws-api/doc/architecture/the-trader-workstation/the-ib-gateway), checked 2026-10-12. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR Web API documentation, limitations of the Client Portal Gateway](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/web-api/authentication/cpgw/limitations-of-the-client-portal-gateway), checked 2026-10-12. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR Web API v1.0 documentation, introduction](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/web-api/v1/introduction), checked 2026-10-12. - Status: verified. Source: [Client Portal API documentation, use cases (IBKR GitHub pages)](https://interactivebrokers.github.io/cpwebapi/use-cases), checked 2026-10-12. - [The Interactive Brokers record's full wording](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/ibkr#access) ### Does Interactive Brokers support streaming or WebSocket prices? TWS API is event driven over the socket. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR Web API v1.0 documentation, websockets introduction](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/web-api/v1/ws/introduction), checked 2026-10-12. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR Web API v1.0 documentation, websocket market data request](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/web-api/v1/ws/market-data/market-data-request), checked 2026-10-12. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR Web API v1.0 documentation, websocket historical market data request](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/web-api/v1/ws/market-data/historical-market-data-request), checked 2026-10-12. - Status: verified. Source: [IBKR Campus: Web API documentation](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/campus/ibkr-api-page/webapi-doc/), checked 2026-10-12. - [The Interactive Brokers record's full wording](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/ibkr#access) ### Is there an official Python library for Interactive Brokers? The Interactive Brokers record marks one Python library as official: TWS API (ibapi). It also lists as community, not official: ib_async and ibeam. - Status: verified. Source: [TWS API (ibapi)](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/docs/tws-api/doc/introduction), checked 2026-10-12. - [Every library in the Interactive Brokers record](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/ibkr#sdks) ### Does Interactive Brokers have an MCP server? The MCP server register on this site holds 1 server for Interactive Brokers. Published by the provider itself: Interactive Brokers MCP connector. - Status: verified. Source: [Interactive Brokers MCP connector](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/about/mediaRelations/7-28-26.php), checked 2026-09-24. - [The MCP server directory, with what each server can do](https://openbrokerapi.com/ai/mcp-directory) ## Not recorded here The Interactive Brokers record cannot answer these questions yet, so they are not asked above. That is a gap in this dataset. It says nothing either way about Interactive Brokers. - [What does the most referenced Interactive Brokers error mean?](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/error-codes) (not recorded here) ## Where to go next - [The Interactive Brokers API record in full: every field with its source](https://openbrokerapi.com/brokers/ibkr) - [Answers for every broker and platform API](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers) - [Which retail brokers have a public trading API?](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/has-an-api) - [Which broker APIs have a demo environment?](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/demo-api) - [What are the rate limits of each broker API?](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/rate-limits) - [How does each broker API authenticate?](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/authentication) - [Which broker APIs stream prices?](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/streaming) - [Which broker APIs have an official Python library?](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/python-library) - [Which broker APIs have an MCP server?](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/mcp-server) - [What does each API's most referenced error mean?](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/error-codes) - [Axi API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/axi) - [Bitget API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/bitget) - [Capital.com API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/capital-com) - [CMC Markets API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/cmc-markets) - [Deriv API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/deriv) - [Dukascopy API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/dukascopy) - [eToro API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/etoro) - [Exness API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/exness) - [FOREX.com API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/forex-com-city-index) - [FXCM API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/fxcm) - [FxPro API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/fxpro) - [IG API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/ig) - [OANDA API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/oanda) - [Pepperstone API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/pepperstone) - [Saxo API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/saxo) - [Swissquote API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/swissquote) - [ThinkMarkets API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/thinkmarkets) - [Tickmill API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/tickmill) - [Trading 212 API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/trading-212) - [XTB API: questions and answers](https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/xtb) ## Licence and how to cite The records behind this page are all rights reserved. This file is the page itself, at its own address, in another format. It is not part of the CC BY 4.0 downloads listed at https://openbrokerapi.com/data. Quote from it with a link to the page. Cite as: Interactive Brokers API: questions and answers. Broker API Hub, https://openbrokerapi.com/answers/ibkr, newest check 2026-10-12. Where you rely on a single figure, cite the source and the checked date printed beside it as well. Where this page and a broker's own documentation differ, the documentation wins.