Frequently asked questions

What TradeLoop is, what it costs, which agents and platforms it supports, and how it compares to other market-data and trading tools.

What is TradeLoop?

TradeLoop (by TradeLoop Labs) is a local-first MCP (Model Context Protocol) server you install once and connect to any AI agent. It ships three first-party components — TradeLoop Markets (live quotes, SEC filings, and technical indicators your agent can read), TradeLoop Wiki (cross-session markdown memory for your watchlist and trade journal), and TradeLoop Research (FinTwit/Reddit + Perplexity + Grok research with citations) — plus a proactive monitoring/alerts loop and 70+ pre-wired integrations. The daemon runs on 127.0.0.1, so your data stays on your machine.

Is TradeLoop free?

Yes. The free tier includes live market data, technical indicators, unlimited TradeLoop Wiki for your watchlist and journal, plus Firecrawl and Perplexity research quotas — with no API keys required to get started. Paid plans (Pro $29/mo, Ultra $99/mo) raise the limits, and you can bring your own key (BYOK) on every paid provider to bypass quotas.

Which AI agents and apps does TradeLoop work with?

Any MCP-compatible client: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, Zed, and ChatGPT desktop. You install TradeLoop once and its tools become available to whichever agent you use — your market data, research, and journal aren't locked to a single app or vendor.

What market data does TradeLoop cover?

Equities and options via Polygon and Finnhub, crypto via CoinGecko, macro series via FRED, and SEC filings via EDGAR — plus a library of technical indicators computed on top. Your agent can pull a live quote, chart a series, compute RSI/MACD, read a 10-K, or check a macro print, all from inside the chat.

Can TradeLoop watch the market and alert me?

Yes. TradeLoop runs a proactive monitoring/alerts loop: set price levels, indicator triggers, or filing/news conditions on your watchlist and the agent surfaces them when they fire — no need to keep asking. Alerts and watchlist state live locally in your TradeLoop Wiki.

Is TradeLoop local-first and private?

Yes. The TradeLoop daemon runs locally at 127.0.0.1 and your watchlist, alerts, and trade journal are stored on your own machine (the wiki is plain markdown, Obsidian-compatible). TradeLoop does not train on your data, and processing is local-first by default — there's no paywall on privacy.

Which platforms does TradeLoop run on?

macOS, Windows and Linux for the CLI/daemon, with a native dark-terminal desktop app on macOS (Windows desktop in progress). The same data and journal feed both the desktop app and your AI agent.

What is MCP (Model Context Protocol)?

MCP is an open standard that lets AI agents call external tools and data sources through a uniform interface. An MCP server (like TradeLoop) exposes a catalog of tools; an MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT, etc.) discovers and calls them. TradeLoop implements MCP and adds dynamic skill discovery so adding data sources doesn't bloat the agent's tool list.

How is TradeLoop different from Zapier or n8n?

Zapier and n8n are workflow-first — you draw fixed trigger→action chains by hand. TradeLoop is agent-first — your AI agent decides which tools to call at runtime, composing market data, indicators, SEC filings, research, and your journal on the fly. There's no canvas to maintain; the workflow is whatever the LLM decides in the moment.

Do I need API keys to use TradeLoop?

No. Paid providers (Polygon, Perplexity, Firecrawl, Grok, etc.) are routed through the TradeLoop gateway on the free and paid tiers, so you can start with zero keys. BYOK (bring your own key) is supported on every paid provider if you'd rather use your own and bypass quotas.