Why We Picked Connect Trade Over SnapTrade
TLDR: ConnectTrade is skating to where the puck is going, not where it is.
When I first connected my own portfolio to the AfterHour app I wrote about earlier, I was brought to a SnapTrade screen, and so began my first experience with the app. Sync issues abound in the app, I started trying to develop on my own, and ran into many of the same limitations as AfterHour. Streams (WebSocket), not polls, is the way. Polling for fills is checking the oven every ten seconds instead of trusting the timer. SnapTrade then limits you to ten door-opens a minute.
I’m going to keep this post a bit shorter and more informational for anyone seeking to build their own fintech - hopefully this can give you a head start. At the very least, our users get to know the company we’re connecting to a little better. We couldn’t be more grateful to be building with them.
The short version
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Streams vs polls
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Native multi-leg options, 2 to 4 legs
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Hosted MCP server for AI agents
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Users can re-use their own data
How a fill reaches the app
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Connect Trade: one WebSocket pushes the change
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SnapTrade: refresh job, webhook, then your backend has to fetch
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SnapTrade has no streaming market data; Connect Trade has L1, L2, bars and options chains
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If your broker provides L1, L2, and the chains - you should be able to see them
The SnapTrade ceiling
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250 requests a minute per customer
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10 requests a minute per account, shared across balances, positions and orders
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4 background holdings syncs a day per user
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1 trade per account per second
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Connect Trade handles rate limits server-side
Where SnapTrade wins
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Pre-trade impact check (
/trade/impact) -
40+ brokers including Robinhood; Connect Trade is at 22 and adds brokers monthly
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No Robinhood on Connect Trade today. If you're trading options on there at 3:45 on a Friday, I'm not judging you. I'm just not building for you yet.
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Pricing is a wash: $1 to $2 a user either way (Connect Trade $19/mo or $500/mo plans, SnapTrade $100/mo) So for once I had to make the decision on merit like a grown up. Terrifying.
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Asterisk - ConnectTrade is newer and has been adding 1-2 brokers a month - 3 since I even started talking to them 2 months ago
Where they came from
~ Michael