Automated Stock Trading with AI: Integrating Alpaca and Google Sheets
VerifiedAutomates trades from Google Sheets data using HTTP requests and logs results.
What this workflow does
This automation uses Google Sheets as a data source and HTTP requests to handle trading operations, including order execution and result logging.
It is designed for algorithmic traders and data-driven investors who want to automate portfolio actions inside n8n.
Who is this for?
Algorithmic traders and data-driven investors using n8n who want to automate trades from AI sentiment signals. Also suitable for n8n enthusiasts testing paper-trading strategies.
What problem it solves
Manually placing buy/sell orders based on daily sentiment analysis is slow and prone to delays or errors. This workflow automates execution via Alpaca while logging everything to Google Sheets.
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What it automates
Daily portfolio rebalancing
Pulls top sentiment stocks from the companion analysis workflow, sells weakening positions, and buys new high-sentiment ones using Alpaca HTTP calls.
Performance tracking
Logs account equity and daily change to Google Sheets every run so users can review results without manual exports.
Paper-trading strategy tests
Runs the full buy/sell sequence in Alpaca's paper environment to validate logic before any real capital is used.
How the workflow works
The 3 nodes in this automation, in order.
- 1Google SheetsgoogleSheets
- 2HTTP RequesthttpRequest
- 3Codecode
Apps & integrations used
How to set up Automated Stock Trading with AI: Integrating Alpaca and Google Sheets
- 1Import the workflow JSON into your n8n instance
- 2Add credentials for Google Sheets and configure the two logging nodes
- 3Create an HTTP Request node pointing to Alpaca's paper-trading endpoints and store your API key
- 4Set the Schedule trigger to run once per trading day
- 5Link the output of the sentiment workflow as the data source for trade decisions
- 6Activate the workflow and monitor the first run via execution logs
How to customize this workflow
- →Change the Schedule trigger to run at market open or close
- →Add an IF node to skip trades below a minimum sentiment score
- →Extend Google Sheets logging to include order IDs returned by Alpaca
- →Swap the paper-trading base URL for the live Alpaca endpoint when ready
Automated Stock Trading with AI: Integrating Alpaca and Google Sheets: pros & cons
Pros
- +Fully hands-off daily execution
- +Safe paper-trading environment
- +Automatic transaction history in Sheets
- +Works directly with existing sentiment workflow
Cons
- –Requires separate Alpaca paper account setup
- –Only supports HTTP-based Alpaca calls (no native node)
- –Depends on the companion sentiment workflow running first
Frequently asked questions
It reads sentiment-ranked stocks, places corresponding buy and sell orders on Alpaca paper trading via HTTP, and writes every action plus daily equity to Google Sheets.
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