Investment account aggregation API vs bank account aggregation API
· SnapTrade
Use a bank account aggregation API for spending, cash flow, and bank balances. Use an investment account aggregation API for brokerage holdings and investment activity.
A budgeting app may need banking data, a portfolio tracker may need investment data, and a personal finance app may need both. One provider can supply both categories, or you can combine APIs from different providers.
What’s the difference between investment and bank aggregation?
Investment aggregation tells you what someone owns. Bank aggregation tells you how money moves through their bank or credit accounts. Available data and features vary by provider and institution.
| Requirement | Investment account aggregation | Bank account aggregation |
|---|---|---|
| Data | Positions, quantities, security identifiers, prices, cash and investment transactions | Balances and transactions such as purchases, salary, bills and transfers; account details where supplied |
| Actions | Data retrieval; evaluate trading or asset transfers separately | Data retrieval and account verification where offered; evaluate payment initiation separately |
| Freshness | Check holdings, orders and investment transactions separately | Check balances, pending/posted transactions and update timing separately |
| Coverage | Specific brokerage, retirement account, region and asset class | Specific bank, checking/savings account, credit card or loan product |
| Typical use cases | Portfolio tracking, wealth dashboards and investment analysis | Budgeting, expense tracking and cash-flow analysis |
Some providers offer both banking and investment products. For example, Plaid has separate Transactions and Investments products, while Akoya also provides investment data. But offering both doesn’t mean every provider supports the same features.
Compare the brokerages and account types covered, the fields returned, how data refreshes, and whether your app needs trading as well as data access. SnapTrade supports brokerage data and trading where available, so you can evaluate it alongside a banking API based on what your app needs.
Why isn’t a bank transaction feed enough for a portfolio?
A transfer to a brokerage shows money leaving a checking account. It doesn’t show what the user bought, how many shares they still hold, or which security those shares represent. A portfolio needs positions and quantities linked to security information, plus investment activity to explain changes over time.
For example, a $500 bank transfer could fund several ETF purchases, remain as cash, or be followed by a withdrawal. You can’t infer the current portfolio from that transfer. You need to retrieve the investment account’s holdings rather than reconstructing them from bank transactions.
Which data does your app need?
A budgeting app
Start with bank and credit-card transactions plus balances. A screen that groups groceries, rent, and salary needs merchant or category information and a clear distinction between pending and posted transactions. Plaid Transactions is one documented example of a product for this job.
A portfolio tracker
Start with investment accounts, positions, securities, cash, and investment transactions. If your app shows allocation, it needs quantities and values by security. If it explains a position’s growth, it also needs to distinguish new purchases from price changes. Compare SnapTrade’s position schema, Plaid Investments, or Akoya’s investment data against the accounts your users hold.
Do I need both Plaid and SnapTrade?
Maybe. If you're building a portfolio tracker, start by checking which investment data and brokerage connections your app needs. If you're building a personal finance app that also tracks spending and bills, you may need banking data too.
For example, you could use Plaid Transactions for bank transactions and SnapTrade for brokerage accounts. The right choice depends on coverage and functionality, not simply whether a provider offers an investment product.
What should I ask an aggregation provider?
Start with the banks, brokerages, and account types your users have. Compare Plaid Investments, Akoya’s investment data, and SnapTrade against the same requirements: holdings, investment transactions, cost basis, tax lots, refresh timing, and any trading actions.
Ask each provider to show which requirements it meets for your target accounts. Use a second provider when it fills a specific gap; don’t assume every investment product returns the same fields or supports the same actions.
“Can you show the exact accounts and fields our app needs?”
Ask for sample data from the accounts and assets your users hold, including which values may be missing. Stocks, options, and bonds may need different handling in your app.
For example, a portfolio tracker needs to know which securities a user holds and how much they own. SnapTrade’s positions reference shows the security details, quantity, price, and cost basis it can return, with a sample response. Field availability and price freshness vary by brokerage.
“How current is the data?”
Check balances, holdings, orders, and transactions separately. A recent sync doesn’t necessarily mean the brokerage supplied current data. Ask what each timestamp measures and how your app should show delayed information.
For example, SnapTrade’s Real-time option can retrieve holdings on request at supported institutions, subject to brokerage delays. Transactions are updated daily with a one-day delay. The data-freshness guide explains the differences.
“Do you provide cost basis, tax lots, or both?”
A position’s cost basis and its individual acquisition lots are different levels of detail. Check which your app needs and what is available for the relevant accounts. SnapTrade’s Tax Lots feature is an optional paid add-on, with coverage that varies by brokerage, account, and position.
“Can users repair access without creating duplicate accounts?”
Ask what happens when access expires or a sync fails, and how users restore access. SnapTrade’s reconnect flow lets a user repair an existing connection rather than create another one.
“Do you support the action we need, separately from reading data?”
Reading account data doesn’t automatically include trading, transfers, or payments. Confirm support for the specific action, institution, and account, along with the permissions and approvals required. SnapTrade’s trading guide covers its trading requirements.
Where does SnapTrade fit?
SnapTrade brings brokerage account data into a consistent format across supported institutions. Your app can work with the same structure for holdings, balances, and transactions instead of handling each brokerage’s response format separately.
Your app can manage its users’ brokerage connections through the Commercial API key flow, or use SnapTrade OAuth so users can authorize access to accounts they manage in SnapTrade. The getting-started guide explains both options.
Check SnapTrade’s brokerage coverage, then try the free Build plan to test your integration with up to five brokerage connections.