No reply from customer service

Getting Started with Alpaca
1

I dropped the customer service an email a few days ago and now it went radio silent.

  1. NON-US RESIDENT ELIGIBILITY
    Do you accept individual accounts from Singapore residents?
    Which legal entity would hold the account, and is it covered by SIPC and FDIC in the same manner as a US-resident account?
    Is there any Singapore-specific restriction — for example, a MAS “Accredited Investor” requirement?
    Which tax form applies (W-8BEN), and is it correct that it must be re-submitted every three years in addition to the year signed?

  2. HIGH-YIELD CASH
    What balance does the 3.56% APY apply to — total account equity, or only cash free of margin requirements?
    Specifically: Does cash held as margin/collateral for short option positions earn the APY? Please answer this one directly.
    Is the rate tiered by balance? If so, please provide the tiers.
    What is the sweep vehicle — program banks, a money market fund, or paid by Alpaca?
    Is enrolment required, and is there a minimum balance to enrol?
    Your materials say cash remains “available for use as buying power.” Please confirm this includes same-day-expiry options trading, and that swept cash still counts toward margin requirements — not merely buying power.
    What does the 11:45 am ET sweep cutoff mean in practice for a trader who needs cash intraday? Could cash be unavailable to trade after that time?
    Your documentation states FDIC coverage up to $1,000,000, while your September email states up to $2.5 million. Which is current?
    Confirm the mechanics: interest accrues daily, compounds monthly, and is credited on the last business day of the month?
    Let’s say I only daytrade the SPX options and I don’t keep overnight position, will my full equity be entitled to the full APY trades?

  3. ORDER FLOW CLASSIFICATION
    Does programmatic/API order flow from my own individual account — trading my own capital, no client assets, no redistribution — constitute “non-retail” flow under that clause?
    Please confirm IN WRITING that automated API trading by a non-professional individual will not trigger non-retail pricing or professional-rate market data.
    Does the CBOE 390 Professional Orders Rule apply to Alpaca accounts? What order volume triggers Professional classification?
    Can my non-professional classification be changed mid-relationship on the basis of API use? If so, on what notice, and is the change retroactive?

  4. INDEX OPTIONS ENABLEMENT
    Is index options available to a RETAIL Trading API account (individual, self-directed) — not only Broker API partners?
    If yes, how do I request enablement, and what is the pricing?
    Confirm SPXW (PM-settled weekly) can be traded on its expiration day. Your error code table states orders for MORNING-expiration index options cannot be placed on expiration day — I need to confirm this does not apply to SPXW, since my strategy is same-day-expiry.
    Confirm same-expiration multi-leg orders (iron condors) are supported on SPXW, and describe the margin treatment. Your docs reference a “Universal Spread Rule” — please provide the authoritative description.
    Confirm the order-type restrictions for index options: Market, Limit and Stop only; and TIF Day and GTC only.

  5. PRICING CONFIRMATION
    Please confirm the all-in cost per contract for SPXW, per your 17 Sept 2026 schedule: $0.50 commission + applicable exchange fee + ORF $0.015 + OCC $0.025 + FINRA TAF. Is anything further charged?
    Is the index-options exchange fee premium-dependent as published ($0.50 for SPXW under $1.00 premium; $0.59 at or above)?
    Minimum to open, and minimum for options approval?

  6. MARKET DATA
    Which options feed does a retail account receive by default — indicative or OPRA?
    If indicative, is that feed adequate for order ENTRY, or does routing use actual OPRA prices regardless of what I am shown?
    Does Algo Trader Plus ($99/month) include real-time OPRA options and real-time consolidated (SIP) equities?
    Historical options data begins February 2024 per your docs. Are there plans to extend this, and is earlier data available by request?
    Confirm the free tier’s equity real-time feed is IEX-only (~2.5% of volume) and that historical data carries a 15-minute restriction.

  7. ACCOUNT MECHANICS
    What options approval level is required for index spreads, iron condors and strangles?
    Confirm current margin rates (6.50% base / 5.00%).
    Beyond buying power, may I hold US Treasury bills or a money market fund inside the account as collateral against short option positions, and would those count toward margin?
    Is there an inactivity fee?
    ACATS inbound is listed as free — does any restriction apply to a non-US account?

2

@Zhiming I can perhaps answer some of your questions:

NON-US RESIDENT ELIGIBILITY
Do you accept individual accounts from Singapore residents?
Yes.

Which legal entity would hold the account, and is it covered by SIPC and FDIC in the same manner as a US-resident account?
Accounts are held by Alpaca Securities LLC.

Is there any Singapore-specific restriction — for example, a MAS “Accredited Investor” requirement?
No.

Which tax form applies (W-8BEN), and is it correct that it must be re-submitted every three years in addition to the year signed?
Correct. The W-8BEN form must be resubmitted every three years in addition to the initial year signed.

HIGH-YIELD CASH
What balance does the 3.56% APY apply to — total account equity, or only cash free of margin requirements?
It applies to the settled cash in the account. There is more information on the program here.

Specifically: Does cash held as margin/collateral for short option positions earn the APY?
No.

Please answer this one directly.
Is the rate tiered by balance? If so, please provide the tiers.
The rate is not tiered and generally applies to all accounts.

What is the sweep vehicle — program banks, a money market fund, or paid by Alpaca?
Banks. There is more information in the link above.

Is enrolment required, and is there a minimum balance to enrol?
Enrollment is required and can be done through the Plans and Features tab in the account dashboard. There is no minimum required.

Your materials say cash remains “available for use as buying power.” Please confirm this includes same-day-expiry options trading, and that swept cash still counts toward margin requirements — not merely buying power.
Only cash which is settled and not tied to margin/collateral for short option positions is included.

What does the 11:45 am ET sweep cutoff mean in practice for a trader who needs cash intraday? Could cash be unavailable to trade after that time?
The 11:45 cut off applies to deposits. If a deposit is received before that time it will be included in the cash sweep.

Your documentation states FDIC coverage up to $1,000,000, while your September email states up to $2.5 million. Which is current?
$2.5 million

Confirm the mechanics: interest accrues daily, compounds monthly, and is credited on the last business day of the month?
Correct.

Let’s say I only daytrade the SPX options and I don’t keep overnight position, will my full equity be entitled to the full APY trades?
The cash which is swept into a high interest account is “settled cash”. This is effectively cash offset by T+1 days.

ORDER FLOW CLASSIFICATION
Does programmatic/API order flow from my own individual account — trading my own capital, no client assets, no redistribution — constitute “non-retail” flow under that clause?
See here for what can constitute a non-retail account.

Please confirm IN WRITING that automated API trading by a non-professional individual will not trigger non-retail pricing or professional-rate market data.
Automated API trading does not in itself trigger a non-retail account designation. See the above link for things which would trigger that designation.

Does the CBOE 390 Professional Orders Rule apply to Alpaca accounts? What order volume triggers Professional classification?
If a customer averages 390 or more options orders per trading day over a calendar month, they are designated a “Professional” options trader for the following period.
All submitted orders count, even ones that are partially filled, unfilled, or canceled — not just executed trades.
No trading restrictions are placed on the account, but flagged options orders:
Lose retail order routing and are no longer eligible for commission-free options trading (execution venues charge extra fees for professional orders).
Take lower execution priority than retail orders at venues.

Can my non-professional classification be changed mid-relationship on the basis of API use? If so, on what notice, and is the change retroactive?
Once designated Professional, the flag stays for the entirety of the following calendar quarter; at quarter end the account is re-reviewed and can be reverted to retail if it didn’t average 390+ in any month of that quarter. The change is not retroactive.

INDEX OPTIONS ENABLEMENT
Is index options available to a RETAIL Trading API account (individual, self-directed) — not only Broker API partners?
Yes.

If yes, how do I request enablement, and what is the pricing?
Index option trading is enabled for all accounts. The pricing is shown here.

Confirm SPXW (PM-settled weekly) can be traded on its expiration day. Your error code table states orders for MORNING-expiration index options cannot be placed on expiration day — I need to confirm this does not apply to SPXW, since my strategy is same-day-expiry.
Yes.

Confirm same-expiration multi-leg orders (iron condors) are supported on SPXW, and describe the margin treatment. Your docs reference a “Universal Spread Rule” — please provide the authoritative description.
Yes. The margin requirement calculation is described in the documentation here.

Confirm the order-type restrictions for index options: Market, Limit and Stop only; and TIF Day and GTC only.
Correct. Supported order types: Market, Limit, Stop, and Stop-Limit. Supported TIF: Day and GTC only. Also be aware that index option legs in a multi-leg order must have the same expiration date.

PRICING CONFIRMATION
Please confirm the all-in cost per contract for SPXW, per your 17 Sept 2026 schedule: $0.50 commission + applicable exchange fee + ORF $0.015 + OCC $0.025 + FINRA TAF. Is anything further charged?
There are also SEC and CAT fees. The entire fees are listed here.

Is the index-options exchange fee premium-dependent as published ($0.50 for SPXW under $1.00 premium; $0.59 at or above)?
The exchange fee depends either on premium or quantity executed depending upon the exchange. These are listed in the above fee schedule.

Minimum to open, and minimum for options approval?
None

MARKET DATA
Which options feed does a retail account receive by default — indicative or OPRA?
Indicative.

If indicative, is that feed adequate for order ENTRY, or does routing use actual OPRA prices regardless of what I am shown?
Routing and execution always uses full OPRA pricing. Your order decision logic should generally not rely on indicative prices since they are not actual OPRA data but rather simply randomized data for the purposes of testing.

Does Algo Trader Plus ($99/month) include real-time OPRA options and real-time consolidated (SIP) equities?
Yes.

Historical options data begins February 2024 per your docs. Are there plans to extend this, and is earlier data available by request?
No.

Confirm the free tier’s equity real-time feed is IEX-only (~2.5% of volume) and that historical data carries a 15-minute restriction.
Yes.

ACCOUNT MECHANICS
What options approval level is required for index spreads, iron condors and strangles?
Options Approval Level 3 is required for index spreads, iron condors, and strangles.

Confirm current margin rates (6.50% base / 5.00%).
As of 2026-09-30 those are correct.

Beyond buying power, may I hold US Treasury bills or a money market fund inside the account as collateral against short option positions, and would those count toward margin?
No . Alpaca does not support US treasury bills or money market funds for individual trading accounts.

Is there an inactivity fee?
No.

ACATS inbound is listed as free — does any restriction apply to a non-US account?
No.

Hope that answers all your questions.