// STEP 1 OF 4 //

Open and fund a brokerage account

The robot trades an account that belongs to you, at a broker called Alpaca. This step opens it, verifies who you are, puts money in it, and produces the two keys the app needs. Start with the warning below — it is the single most common place people get stuck.

Overview1Brokerage account2Get access3Install4Activate & start
Read this before you touch the signup formAlpaca — like every regulated brokerage — requires an authenticator app to create your account and to sign in afterwards. If you do not already have one on your phone, install it now, before you start. People get halfway through signup, discover they need one, and lose the thread. That is the single most common way this step goes wrong.

First: put an authenticator app on your phone

An authenticator app is a free app that shows a six-digit code that changes every thirty seconds. When you sign in to your brokerage, it asks for that code as well as your password. It proves the person signing in is holding your phone — so someone who steals your password still cannot get in.

Any of these is fine, and they are all free. Open the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android), search the name, install it, and stop there — you will connect it to your brokerage during signup:

Save your backup codes. This one matters.When you switch on the authenticator, your brokerage shows you a list of recovery codes (sometimes called backup codes). Write them down on paper and put them somewhere safe, or save them in a password manager. If you lose your phone and you do not have these codes, you are locked out of your own brokerage account and getting back in means a slow identity-recovery process with the broker. This is not a KirbyTrader thing — we cannot help you recover a brokerage login. Thirty seconds now saves a very bad week later.
// OPENING THE ACCOUNT //

Create your Alpaca account

  1. Go to alpaca.markets and choose to sign up

    Open alpaca.markets and start the signup for an individual trading account. You will give an email address and choose a password. Use an email you actually read — every confirmation goes there.

  2. Turn on the authenticator when asked

    Alpaca shows a QR code. Open your authenticator app, choose to add an account, point the phone camera at the code, then type the six-digit number the app shows back into the website. Then save the recovery codes it gives you.

  3. Fill in your personal details

    Legal name, date of birth, address, and a tax identification number (in the United States that is your Social Security Number). You will also answer a few questions about your employment and your trading experience. Answer them honestly — they are regulatory questions, not a test you can fail.

  4. Upload your photo ID

    A passport, driver's licence or national ID card. This is Know Your Customer verification and every regulated brokerage in the world does it. Take the photo in good light, with all four corners of the document visible.

  5. Wait for approval

    Most accounts are approved within minutes. Some take one to three business days if a document needs a human to look at it. You will get an email either way. You can carry on with Step 2 of this guide while you wait.
// ADDING MONEY //

Funding your account

Once approved, you link your bank account inside Alpaca and transfer money in. The usual method is a standard bank transfer (ACH in the US), which is free and takes a few business days to arrive and settle.

“Settled” means the money has fully cleared and can be used to buy. Money that has arrived but not settled cannot be traded yet. The robot only ever spends settled cash, so if it looks idle right after a deposit, that is usually why.

Your money stays yours, in your nameThe account is opened by you, with the brokerage, in your name. Deposits go from your bank to that account, and withdrawals come back to your bank. KirbyTrader never holds, touches, or withdraws your funds, and cannot: the software only has permission to place trades in the account, never to move money out of it. You keep the ability to sell everything and withdraw at any time, with or without us.
// START WITH PRACTICE MONEY //

Use the free paper account first

Alpaca gives you a second, free account alongside your real one: a paper trading account. It has simulated money in it, but it runs against the real market with real prices. Trades are real in every way except that the money is not.

We strongly recommend running the robot on the paper account first. You get to watch it find trades, place orders, and manage exits, and you get familiar with every screen — with nothing at stake. When you later switch to real money, nothing about the process is new except the consequences.

Which account should I start with?

Paper (simulated money)

Start here

Choose paper if any of these is true:
  • You have never run an automated strategy.
  • You have not yet watched this robot trade.
  • You want to learn the screens with nothing at risk.
  • You are not yet sure how much to fund.
Real market data. Simulated money. Free at Alpaca. Nothing to lose.
Real money

Move here when

Switch only once all of these are true:
  • You have watched it trade on paper for a while.
  • You understand what the dashboard is showing you.
  • You have decided an amount you can afford to risk.
  • Your brokerage account is funded and settled.
Real orders. Real losses are possible. Nothing is guaranteed.

The robot keeps completely separate settings, history and databases for paper and real money. Experimenting on paper can never affect a real-money account.

// API KEYS //

Generate your API keys

API keys are how the robot signs in to your brokerage account on your behalf. They are a pair: a key ID (public-ish, like a username) and a secret key (private, like a password). You generate them inside Alpaca and paste them into the app once.

  1. Decide which account you are generating keys for

    Alpaca's dashboard has a switch between Paper and Live. Paper keys only work on the paper account and live keys only on the real one — they are not interchangeable. If you are following our advice and starting on paper, switch to paper first.

  2. Generate the key pair

    Find the API keys panel in the dashboard and generate a new key. Alpaca shows you the key ID and the secret.

  3. Copy the secret immediately — it is shown only once

    The secret key is displayed exactly one time. Copy it somewhere safe before you close that window: a password manager, or a note you keep privately. If you lose it, nothing breaks — you simply generate a new pair and paste the new one in — but you cannot recover the old secret.

  4. Keep them private

    Anyone holding both halves can trade your account. Do not email them, do not post them for support, and do not put them in a shared document. When you paste them into the app, they are encrypted on your own PC with Windows' built-in Data Protection and are never sent to Kirby.
You do not need money in the account to continueIf your deposit is still settling, keep going. Install the app, activate it, and connect your paper keys — you can watch the robot work on simulated money today and switch to real money whenever you are ready.
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