How we use Alpaca
Alpaca Securities is our brokerage partner responsible for executing trades for Composer users as well as acting as the custodian of funds deposited in their brokerage account. Alpaca is a member of SIPC, meaning securities in your account are protected up to $500,000 (details and more information can be found at sipc.org).
Brokerage applications are also processed through Alpaca and subject to their guidelines. The best way to think about the relationship between Composer and Alpaca is Composer is the orchestration layer in front of Alpaca, who is the execution layer. While symphony design, investing decisions, and the entire customer experience is on Composer, Alpaca handles trade execution. It's no longer required to make a separate Alpaca account to be able to trade on Composer. This type of relationship is common with retail investing platforms. You may be subject to fees through Alpaca (information here). Neither Alpaca nor Composer profits from these fees.