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Symbols TCP API

Overview

The Symbols section describes how trading instruments (symbols) are managed via the TCP API.

The Symbols API allows full lifecycle management of trading instruments, including:

  • Retrieving symbols
  • Creating new symbols
  • Updating existing symbols
  • Deleting symbols
  • Managing symbol groups
  • Retrieving cross-currency pairs
  • Generating symbol summary statistics
  • Assigning deterministic quote-source policies

All operations are handled internally by the SymbolManager and related system components.

Access Control

Symbol catalog methods are staff-only unless a method explicitly documents public access.

For staff sessions, manager permissions and scope are resolved from the cached staff manager record. The token is used only as the source of manager id and session type.

  • GetSymbols and GetSymbolGroups require only a valid enabled staff manager session.
  • Symbol configuration writes, symbol-group writes, and reindex methods require set_accounts.
  • GetSymbolsSummary requires see_trades; staff scope is limited by cached manager groups.

What Is a Symbol?

A symbol represents a tradable financial instrument such as:

  • Forex pairs (EURUSD, GBPUSD)
  • CFDs
  • Commodities
  • Indices
  • Crypto pairs
  • Stocks

Each symbol contains:

  • Trading parameters
  • Margin settings
  • Execution configuration
  • Swap configuration
  • Session schedules
  • Contract specifications
  • A quote_policy_id selecting its quote-source and failover rules

🏷 Symbol Groups

Symbols can be organized into symbol groups (securities groups) for:

  • UI categorization
  • Trading permissions
  • Group-level configuration
  • Margin overrides

Groups allow flexible hierarchical organization of instruments.

Method Name Description
Get Symbols List Retrieve the full list of configured trading symbols
Get Symbol Retrieve detailed configuration of a single symbol
Add Symbol Create a new trading symbol with full configuration
Update Symbol Modify an existing trading symbol
Delete Symbol Remove a symbol from the trading server
Get Cross Pair Symbols Retrieve calculated cross-currency trading pairs
Get Symbol Groups List Retrieve all configured symbol groups
Add Symbol Group Create a new symbol group
Update Symbol Group Update an existing symbol group configuration
Delete Symbol Group Remove a symbol group
Get Symbols Summary Retrieve aggregated trading statistics per symbol

Quote-source selection is managed separately through the Quote Policies API. A symbol stores only the policy reference in quote_policy_id; provider lists, priority and failover rules are not duplicated in the symbol record.

⚙️ Core Capabilities

Symbol Management

The API allows complete configuration of:

  • Digits and pricing precision
  • Margin mode and calculation type
  • Swap parameters
  • Contract size
  • Tick size / tick value
  • Spread configuration
  • Execution mode
  • Trading permissions
  • Volume limits
  • Session trading hours
  • Quote-policy assignment through quote_policy_id

Quote source flow

flowchart LR
    F[Feeder] --> P[Quote policy]
    G[Gateway] --> P
    X[Plugin] --> P
    P -->|selected tick| S[Symbol runtime quote]
    S --> T[Trading and market data]

The server validates every incoming tick against the symbol's policy. In priority-failover mode only one source is active at a time. A lower-priority source is accepted only when the active source becomes stale; automatic switch-back observes recovery and minimum-active windows to avoid flapping.

Symbol Groups Management

Symbol groups provide:

  • Instrument categorization
  • Group-level trading settings
  • Execution and commission rules
  • Hierarchical structuring
  • Margin overrides

Cross Currency Calculation

The API supports automatic retrieval of:

  • Derived cross pairs
  • Synthetic currency pairs
  • Currency conversion symbols

This is useful for:

  • Margin calculations
  • Multi-currency accounts
  • Risk calculations

Symbols Summary

The summary endpoint provides:

  • Number of orders per symbol
  • Buy/sell volume
  • Average prices
  • Profit statistics
  • Coverage statistics

This is typically used for:

  • Risk monitoring
  • Exposure reporting
  • Administrative dashboards

Data Flow

flowchart LR
    Client --> TCP_API
    TCP_API --> SymbolManager
    SymbolManager --> ConfigStorage
    SymbolManager --> TradeManager

🔐 Validation & Error Handling

All endpoints validate:

  • Required fields
  • Numeric ranges
  • String lengths
  • Array structures
  • Trading constraints

Typical error response:

{
  "error": "INVALID_DATA",
  "message": "validation error description"
}

Performance Considerations

  • Avoid frequent full symbol list requests in high-load environments
  • Update symbols during maintenance windows
  • Reindex after large configuration changes
  • Be cautious when deleting symbols with open trades

Use Cases

The Symbols API is typically used for:

  • Broker configuration
  • Trading instrument onboarding
  • Margin policy updates
  • Risk control adjustments
  • Platform administration
  • Multi-asset platform management