Tradier API Order Rules for Automated Trading (2026): Whole Shares, OTOCO and OCO Exits, 24-Hour Tokens, Rate Limits and the Sandbox

Tradier's API is built for software: a published REST interface, a sandbox, and advanced order types (OTO, OCO, OTOCO) that let a bot leave its exits at the broker. It also has three rules that shape every automated account: whole shares only, a native bracket that needs a limit or stop entry, and access tokens that last a day unless the account carries a partner refresh token. This page lists the rules as JorgAI's integration applies them, verified from the integration code on November 6, 2026, with the points Tradier's API documentation states on its overview. For the same rows across all six connected brokers, see the broker API capabilities page.

The rules in one table

What the rules mean for an automated account

Whole shares, and the $100 problem

Tradier's API takes share counts only. A dollar budget is converted to shares and floored; if the result is under one share the order is skipped. With a $100 per-trade budget that rules out any stock above $100, which is most of the names an AI screen tends to surface. The practical answers are a larger per-trade budget or a watchlist of lower-priced names.

Why the exits arrive a moment after the entry

Tradier's one-step bracket, OTOCO, needs a limit or stop entry. Automated entries are market orders, so JorgAI places the entry, confirms the fill, then sends a one-cancels-other sell pair: the take-profit limit and the stop loss, both good till cancelled. For a few seconds the position has no broker-held exit; the monitor covers that window and, if the follow-up is rejected, manages the exits itself. What happens when the connection drops covers the outage case.

Tokens that last a day

A Tradier OAuth access token lasts 24 hours. Accounts with a partner refresh token are renewed in the background every eight hours and never notice. Accounts without one sign in to Tradier again each day, which is the single most common reason a Tradier automation stops: not a rejected order, an expired token. A personal access token pasted in lasts until you revoke it in Tradier.

Success is not a fill

Tradier's documentation is explicit that the place-order call can return success while a downstream system rejects the order. JorgAI reads every order back by id after placing it, and a position only counts as open once Tradier reports the fill.

Quick answers

Does Tradier support fractional shares through the API?

No. Orders are whole-share quantities.

Can a bot place a bracket order on Tradier?

Yes, with a limit or stop entry (OTOCO). With a market entry the exits go in as a separate OCO pair right after the fill, which is what JorgAI does.

What is Tradier's API rate limit?

Tradier enforces limits per category and reports the remaining quota in X-Ratelimit response headers; a limited request returns HTTP 400 with a Quota Violation body rather than 429. The published per-category figures are in Tradier's documentation.

Does the Tradier connection expire?

An OAuth token lasts 24 hours; a partner refresh token renews it automatically. A personal access token lasts until revoked.

How we put this together. The JorgAI column is a line-by-line read of the Tradier adapter and auto-trader workers on November 6, 2026; the Tradier column is from Tradier's API documentation read the same day (the overview page; the per-category rate-limit figures live in a page we could not retrieve, so they are not quoted here). For the setup steps see how to automate a Tradier account; for the broker itself, the Tradier review; for the platforms that connect to it, the Tradier bots comparison.

To see a rule run before you connect a Tradier account, start on the free plan: the same system on a simulated account.

The figures in this article describe broker API behaviour and are not a prediction or a recommendation to buy or sell any security or digital asset. JorgAI is software that carries out the rules you set in your own brokerage or exchange account; it is not an investment adviser. Trading involves risk of loss.