Sell Fractional Shares

Getting Started with Alpaca
1

There are currently examples on how to buy notional / fractional values of stocks,
But none to sell.

I’m doing this on a paper account, but it seems like when I try to sell I get an error, can anyone else confirm this?

1 Like
2

I get the error: APIError: fractional orders are not allowed to short

def action_sell_raw(self, symbol, price):
    params = {
    "symbol": symbol,
    "notional": price,
    "side": "sell",
    "type": "market",
    "time_in_force": 'day'
    }
    response = self.api.post('/orders', params)
    return response
3

I am getting an error as well and would love an update on this…

4

waiting for that to be implemented as well for a long time since you can not place notional short orders which is totally a must if you dont want to fetch your BP all the time.

5

@Marcus what API are using which is giving you an error when submitting an order for fractional shares?

@Chris_S One can sell fractional shares if there is an existing position. Shorting fractional shares is currently not supported. It’s on the requested features list for sure!

6

Still not supported in 2024 it seems? I just did this today and got the same error. The bit that bothers me the most about this, is being unable to do a “market” sell into a short position of my remaining buying power, since some % must be left as a cushion against price slide… or do a “limit” sell and run the risk of my order going unfulfilled.