Indian Stock Broker API Comparison — Documentation

Indian broker trading APIs are not equal. They all let you place, modify and cancel orders. Everything after that differs — sometimes by a lot.

This hub compares the trading APIs of more than 20 Indian stock brokers across six areas. Each area has its own page with a full table, because the differences are too detailed to fit on one.

Spotted something wrong? Broker APIs change often. If anything here is not correct, is out of date, or is missing, please report it to us and we will get it updated. Corrections are welcome from anyone — users, brokers and platform providers alike.

The six areas compared

Area	What it answers
Order placement	Which order types does the API accept? Bracket, cover, after-market, standing orders, iceberg?
Positions	What does it report on an open position? Profit and loss, day figures, contract multiplier?
Holdings	What does it report on shares you hold? Does it show what you have already sold today? Does it show collateral?
Margins	Are the margin figures clear and complete? Can you check margin before placing an order?
Market data	What live prices and historical data does the API give, and at what depth?
Order updates	How do you learn an order was filled? Instantly, or only by asking again?

How to read these tables

Every table on these pages uses the same symbols.

Symbol	Meaning
✅	Provided
⚠️	Provided, but with a limitation worth knowing
❌	Documented as not available
—	Not stated in the broker’s API documentation

The difference between ❌ and — matters. A ❌ means the broker’s documentation covers the area and the feature is absent. A — means the documentation simply does not say. Several brokers publish thin documentation, and for a few there is none at all in public. In those cases a feature may well work even though nothing here confirms it, so treat — as “ask your broker”, not as “no”.

Two things to know before you compare

Many brokers do not build their own API

Several brokers buy a shared trading platform from a technology vendor. Every broker on that platform sends the same fields in the same way, so a limitation you hit is usually shared by all of them and is not something your broker chose.

Shared platform	Brokers using it
Symphony XTS	The largest group. AC Agarwal, Aetram, Ambalal, Anand Rathi, Arham, ATS, Axis, DB Online, Eureka, IIFL, Jainam, MLB, PESB, Religare, Rmoney, Share India, SMC, SW Capital, Tradeswift, WisdomCapital and Zebu.
Kambala (Noren)	Finvasia, Flattrade, Profitmart, Tradejini and Prabhudas Lilladher. AliceBlue also runs on this platform, behind its own interface.
A third platform	SAS Online, now trading as Stocko.

IIFL is worth calling out. IIFL’s API is Symphony XTS, offered under IIFL’s own name. It is not a separate design, so it shares XTS’s strengths and gaps.

The same platform does not always mean the same features

This is the trap. A broker can switch parts of a shared platform off.

IIFL’s version of Symphony XTS leaves out standing orders, spread orders and the margin calculator that the platform supports in general.
On Kambala’s platform, the list of product types you are allowed to use is sent to you when you log in — so it genuinely differs from broker to broker.
Bracket and cover orders on some platforms carry a written warning that they may not be switched on for every broker.

So a ✅ on a shared-platform row means the platform supports it. Whether your broker exposes it is a question for your broker.

Where the biggest differences are

Order placement is the most even. Market, limit and stop-loss orders work on every API. The extras vary: bracket and cover orders are missing from several APIs, and no Indian broker API in this comparison offers a true iceberg order type, though most accept a disclosed quantity.

Holdings are the least even. Several APIs send no profit and loss on your holdings at all — not even a current price — so the value of what you hold has to be worked out from elsewhere. This is a bigger gap than most buyers expect, because holdings look like the simplest thing an API could report.

Margins split the field in two. Some APIs give a full breakdown, down to span, exposure and option premium. Others give three or four numbers. A few return the figures as a list of labels and amounts meant for display rather than as proper named fields.

Market data is where the extra cost usually hides. Some brokers include live and historical data with the trading API. At least one puts both behind a paid tier. Historical depth ranges from a few days to more than twenty years.

Order updates decide how fast you know. Most brokers push updates to you the moment something happens. A few offer nothing of the kind, leaving you to ask again and again.

What happens when a broker API leaves something out

You should not have to care which fields your broker omits — especially if you run accounts across several brokers and want to compare them fairly.

So where a broker does not send a value, our system calculates it from your data and live prices, and shows it alongside whatever the broker sent. That way the same columns are available for every account on one screen, whichever broker it belongs to.

You can see both side by side on the Positions screen and compare them yourself.

How to report an error on these pages

Broker APIs change often. Fields get added, formats change, and a limitation listed today may be fixed next month. This comparison reflects each broker’s own published documentation as of the date at the top of the page.

If you feel any information here is not correct, is out of date, or is missing, please report it to us and we will get it updated. It helps if you tell us the broker, the field, and what you are seeing instead.

We welcome corrections from anyone:

Users — if your account shows something different from what these pages say.
Brokers and platform providers — if your API now provides something marked as missing here, tell us and we will verify and update it.

We have no commercial reason to favour one broker over another. These pages exist because the information is genuinely hard to find, and because we had to work it out anyway in order to support them all.

Supported brokers — setup guide for each broker
Precautions — known limitations, broker by broker
Why AT PnL is different from M2M
Positions screen

Frequently asked questions

Which Indian broker has the best trading API?▾

There is no single best one, because the areas do not rank together. On order types, Fyers and Dhan accept the widest range. On position data, Zerodha reports the most. On holdings, Zerodha, Upstox and Fyers are clearest about what you have already sold. On margins, several brokers give a full breakdown while others give only a few numbers. Choose on the whole picture though: cost, reliability, the segments you trade and the broker's own support matter as much as the field list.

Which Indian brokers use a shared trading platform?▾

Many. Symphony XTS is the largest such platform, used by around twenty brokers including IIFL, whose API is XTS under the name Blaze. Kambala's Noren platform is used by Finvasia, Flattrade, Profitmart, Tradejini, Prabhudas Lilladher and Zebu, and AliceBlue runs on Noren behind its own interface. SAS Online, now Stocko, runs on a third platform. Brokers on the same platform usually share the same strengths and the same gaps.

If two brokers use the same platform, do they behave identically?▾

Usually, but not always, and this catches people out. A broker can switch features off. IIFL's version of Symphony XTS leaves out standing orders, spread orders and the margin calculator that the platform supports in general. On Kambala's platform the list of allowed product types is sent to you when you log in, so it differs from broker to broker. Always confirm a feature with your own broker rather than assuming it from the platform.

Can every Indian broker API place orders?▾

Yes. Every broker API supported by AutoTrader Web can place, modify and cancel orders, and read positions, holdings and margins. Market, limit and stop-loss orders work everywhere. The differences in this comparison are about the extras, such as bracket and cover orders, and about the detail each API sends back.

Do all broker APIs give profit and loss?▾

No. Some send a full set of profit and loss figures, some send only one number, and several send none at all. Holdings are worse than positions: several brokers send no profit and loss on holdings whatsoever, not even a current price. Where a broker does not send it, AutoTrader Web calculates the value and shows it in the AT PnL column.

Does it matter if my broker's API is missing fields?▾

Usually not for placing orders, which every supported broker API can do. It matters most for profit and loss reporting and for commodity contracts, where a missing contract multiplier can make values look wrong. AutoTrader Web fills these gaps by calculating the values itself, so you see the same columns for every broker.