Specification
The APEX Protocol defines how AI agents communicate with financial brokers via MCP (Model Context Protocol). The spec is organized into a mandatory core and modular asset-class profiles.
Core Specification
The mandatory baseline that every APEX-compliant broker must implement. Covers five capability domains:
apex.session.* Authentication (pass-through), capability negotiation, heartbeat apex.account.* Account summary, balances, positions, open orders, transaction history apex.order.* Place, modify, cancel orders. Market, limit, stop, stop-limit. SL/TP. apex.market.* Quotes, OHLCV snapshots, instrument search, contract details apex.risk.* Pre-trade risk checks, margin requirements, account limits FX
Spot FX, CFD FX, rollovers, swap rates, currency exposure, pip calculations.
v0.1-draftCFD
Equity CFDs, index CFDs, commodity CFDs, corporate actions, dividend adjustments.
v0.1-draftCrypto
Spot crypto, perpetual futures, funding rates, cross/isolated margin modes.
v0.1-draftDerivatives
Listed options, futures contracts, greeks, exercise/assignment.
plannedFixed Income
Bonds, yield, duration, coupon schedules.
plannedInstrument Taxonomy
The spec defines a canonical identifier format for tradeable instruments. A universal ID means the same thing at every broker — no per-broker symbol mapping.
ID Format
APEX:{ASSET_CLASS}:{SUB_CLASS?}:{SYMBOL} APEX:FX:EURUSD Euro / US Dollar spot APEX:CFD:IDX:SPX500 S&P 500 index CFD APEX:CFD:EQ:AAPL.US Apple equity CFD APEX:CRYPTO:BTCUSDT Bitcoin / Tether spot Design Principles
Credential pass-through
Tokens are validated by the broker and held only in memory with TTL. No third party ever stores credentials.
No recommendations
No APEX tool may return a directional trading recommendation. Protocol-level prohibition, non-negotiable.
Consistent errors
Every error follows a standard envelope: code, category, message, details, request_id, retry_after.
MCP-native annotations
Every tool declares readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, and idempotentHint for safe agent behavior.