Connecting brokerages

Connect brokerage and investment accounts through SnapTrade to sync holdings, trades, and balances.

5 min read

On this page

Open Banks and search for your brokerage
Sign in through SnapTrade
What investment data you get
Real-time vs cached data
Confirm it worked
Troubleshooting
Next steps
Related guides

Brokerages and investment accounts connect to BankSync through SnapTrade, a provider built specifically for investment data. You search for your brokerage, sign in through SnapTrade's secure window, and BankSync then has access to your positions, trades, balances (including settled cash), and account details, ready to power a holdings or trades feed.

Search for a brokerage, authorize with SnapTrade, and connect an investment account.

Your credentials stay with your brokerage

BankSync connects to brokerages through SnapTrade. You enter your brokerage login in SnapTrade's own secure window, not in BankSync. BankSync never sees or stores your brokerage password.

Before you start

You need a BankSync account and your brokerage login (username and password, plus any two-factor method your broker uses such as an SMS or authenticator code). Confirm you can sign in to your brokerage's own website or app first.

Open Banks and search for your brokerage#

Brokerages live alongside your banks. You search the same way, and BankSync routes investment institutions through SnapTrade automatically.

Find your brokerage

Go to the Banks page
Open BankSync and select Banks from the navigation. This is where every connected institution, including brokerages, appears.
Click 'Connect a new bank'
Select the dashed "Connect a new bank" tile. The "Connect Bank" dialog opens with the subtitle "Search and connect your financial institution".
Type your brokerage name
In the "Search institutions" box, enter at least 2 characters (for example "Schwab", "Fidelity", "Robinhood", or "Questrade"). Matching institutions appear as cards as you type.
(Optional) filter to SnapTrade
Click the filter button next to the search box to open Filters, then under Provider tap "SnapTrade" to show only brokerage results. The provider chips are All, Plaid, SnapTrade, SaltEdge, and Fiskil.
Confirm the result is a brokerage
A brokerage card shows an "Investment" account-type tag (the chart icon) and "SnapTrade" as its provider. Click the card to start the connection.

The BankSync Connect Bank dialog searching for Schwab, showing brokerage result cards (Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, Questrade), each with an Investment account-type tag and the SnapTrade provider. — Searching for a brokerage in the Connect Bank dialog, connected through SnapTrade.

Brokerages skip the region step

Brokerages are global on SnapTrade and aren't tied to a country, so there is no separate region selection. When you click a brokerage card, BankSync goes straight to the SnapTrade login window.

After you select a brokerage, SnapTrade's secure connection window opens. Because you already chose the institution in BankSync, SnapTrade takes you straight to that broker's sign-in.

Authorize the connection

Sign in to your broker
Enter your brokerage credentials in the SnapTrade window. This is your broker's own login, handled by SnapTrade.
Complete verification
Approve any two-factor prompt your broker requires, such as an SMS code, email code, or an authenticator approval.
Grant read access
Confirm the read-only data permission so SnapTrade can share your positions, balances, and activity with BankSync.
Return to BankSync
When the window finishes, BankSync confirms the connection and the brokerage appears as a card on your Banks page.

If you already have a connection to the same brokerage, BankSync shows an "Existing Connections" screen. Choose "Reconnect" to refresh the existing connection rather than opening a fresh login.

What investment data you get#

Once connected, BankSync reads four kinds of investment data from the brokerage. Each one maps to a feed type you can sync to your spreadsheet, database, or other integration.

Data	What it contains	Feed type
Holdings (positions)	Every security you hold: symbol, security name, quantity, current price, market value, cost basis, and unrealized gain/loss	Holdings
Trades (activity)	Buys, sells, dividends, transfers, and other account activity, with date, symbol, quantity, price, total, and fees	Trades
Balances	Account-level totals including settled cash	Holdings / balances
Account details	Each investment account on the connection and its account type	All investment feeds

Settled cash appears in your holdings

Settled cash held in a brokerage account is surfaced as a cash position alongside your securities, priced at 1 per unit in the account's currency. That means a holdings feed shows both your invested positions and your uninvested cash in one place.

Real-time vs cached data#

How fresh your investment data is depends on the broker. For supported brokerages, BankSync reads live positions and balances at sync time. For others, data reflects the broker's most recent snapshot rather than a tick-by-tick view. Either way, BankSync delivers the latest data the broker makes available when the feed runs.

A degraded connection can serve stale data

If the broker-side connection becomes degraded (for example the broker's session has expired or the provider can't reach it), SnapTrade may keep returning the last successful snapshot. The bank can still look healthy while the numbers stop moving. When figures stop updating, reconnect the brokerage to re-authorize the session and pull fresh data.

Confirm it worked#

You have connected your brokerage successfully when:

The brokerage appears as a card on the Banks page (no longer just the "Connect a new bank" tile).
Opening the brokerage shows its investment accounts and their account types.
Your holdings (positions) and balances appear, including any settled cash as a cash position.
The connection shows an active state rather than a "Requires re-authentication" label.

If holdings and balances are populated, you are ready to build a feed.

Troubleshooting#

Common issues

Stale or unchanging data: the broker-side connection is likely degraded. Open the brokerage and use "Reconnect / Add Accounts" (or "Reconnect Now") to re-authorize, then run a sync. Brokerage not listed: try the broker's full or parent-company name; if it still doesn't appear, use the "Request this bank" prompt that shows when few results come back. No holdings or only cash: confirm the account actually holds positions and that you granted read access during the SnapTrade login; some account types share balances but few positions. Requires re-authentication: the broker's session expired, so open the brokerage and reconnect to refresh consent.

Next steps#

With your brokerage connected, set up feeds to sync its investment data on a schedule.

Sync holdings

Track current positions, values, and settled cash.

Sync trades

Capture buys, sells, dividends, and other activity.

Sync holdings

How to sync holdings: track positions, values, and settled cash in a feed.
How to sync trades: capture buys, sells, dividends, and other activity.
Reconnecting a bank: refresh a stale or degraded brokerage session without losing history.
Connect a bank: the equivalent flow for everyday bank accounts.