What is IBKR’s Client Portal API?

Study Notes:

Hello, and welcome to this lesson the Interactive Brokers Client Portal API. In this lesson, we will be discussing what the Client Portal API is, why an individual may use it, and more.

To begin, the Client Portal API is a RESTful API which allows you to make requests to the Interactive Brokers’ systems using standard http requests over the internet as opposed to using a local TCP socket. This system allows for a lightweight application with minimal installation required. The only required prerequisites to run and operate the API is a modern Java installation to run the gateway along with a command prompt. However, in the case of this course’s examples, you will also need to have Python 3 installed, along with the ‘requests’ library. We will also make frequent references to the Python’s JSON standard library; however, this is not required other than general formatting.

I would like to note that we will be proceeding through this series using Python and the ‘requests’ module. Because these requests are referring to standard web requests like a URL, body, or other common fields, these calls are not unique to Python. The same calls can be performed using CURL requests directly, through Javascript, C#, or any other language that supports web requests. If you are more experienced with another, feel free to follow along in your preferred language.

With that said, I would like to provide a few details regarding the use of the Client Portal API rather than the Trader Workstation API. As stated previously, a particular benefit to the Client Portal API, or CPAPI, is the lightweight nature. Without the need to operate the Trader Workstation, we can run a range of code with less demanding hardware requirements. However, it is important to note that the system is much younger than the Trader Workstation API, and while it does have many of the same features, it may not have full parity quite yet. We are adding new data and endpoints all the time, so while something may not exist yet, that does not mean it will not be coming soon.

Thank you for watching this Introduction to the Interactive Brokers Client Portal API. If you found this lesson helpful, please check out our other lessons in the Client Portal API tutorial series.