Footprint charts, Level 2 and an options desk for your Charles Schwab account
Link your Schwab brokerage account and trade stocks and options from one Windows workspace. Charts, a footprint, a Level 2 ladder, an option chain and the order ticket all run on your own Schwab data.
Download SabrTrader free See pricingRuns on Windows. Orders go to your own Schwab account.
Stocks and options trade here. Futures only chart.
SabrTrader is a Windows trading platform that connects to Charles Schwab through Schwab's own API. It streams live quotes and trades, shows Level 2 for stocks and options, loads option chains with greeks, and sends stock and option orders to your Schwab account, multi-leg spreads included. Futures chart on Schwab data, but you can't trade them through this connection.
What a Schwab connection gives you in SabrTrader
| Topic | With Charles Schwab |
|---|---|
| Asset classes | Stocks and ETFs, listed options, plus futures and index symbols for charting |
| Live data | Last trade, best bid and ask with sizes, and volume, from Schwab's streaming quotes |
| Depth (Level 2) | Yes for stocks (the Nasdaq and NYSE books) and for options. No depth for futures or indices |
| Market by Order | No. Schwab depth is size per price, not individual orders |
| Historical data | Candles. Schwab doesn't publish a history of individual trades |
| Order placement | Yes for stocks and options: market, limit, stop and stop-limit orders, and brackets with a target and a stop. No futures orders |
| Options | Chains with streamed quotes, greeks, implied volatility and open interest. Multi-leg strategies sent as one order |
| Paper trading | No. Schwab's API has no paper environment, so the connection is always your live account |
| What you need | A Schwab brokerage account and an app you register on developer.schwab.com, which gives you an App Key, an App Secret and a Callback URL |
An options workstation on your Schwab account
Schwab sends option chains with live quotes and greeks, and it takes a whole spread as a single order. That makes it one of the best fits for the options tools in SabrTrader.
- Build in the chain. Click an ask to buy a leg, a bid to sell one, or start from a template such as a vertical, an iron condor or a calendar.
- Check it before you send it. The analyzer shows the payoff today and at expiry, and what a change in implied volatility does to it.
- Send it as one order. Up to four legs go to Schwab with one net limit price, so the spread fills as a package.
- Scan your watchlist. The screener ranks contracts across your symbols, so you're not scrolling chains.
The full tour is on the options trading page.
Why a Schwab footprint is coarser than one from a tick feed
You can put a footprint and a volume profile on a Schwab stock chart, and they update live. Know what they're built from, though.
Schwab's stream sends quote updates: the last price, the last size, the day's volume, the best bid and ask. It doesn't send a line for every single trade. SabrTrader turns each change in last price, size and volume into a print, and the footprint sorts it to the bid or the ask side by comparing it with the quote.
So several trades can arrive as one update, most of all in a fast market. That makes a Schwab footprint coarser than one built from a full tick feed. Read it for where volume and delta concentrate, and don't lean on single prints.
For stocks, SabrTrader subscribes to Schwab's Nasdaq and NYSE books and shows them in the SuperDOM and the liquidity heatmap: aggregated size at each price, updating live. Per-order views such as iceberg detection need Market by Order data, and Schwab doesn't have it.
Three things Schwab doesn't do through its API
No futures orders
Schwab's trading API accepts stock and option orders only. A futures symbol such as /ES charts with live quotes, but it has no depth and you can't send an order for it from SabrTrader.
No trade history
Schwab serves candles for the past. Time-based charts load history normally. The bid and ask detail inside a footprint bar starts when the chart starts streaming.
No paper account
There's no Schwab sandbox to connect to. Every order from a Schwab connection is a live order, so check the account and the size before you send.
Trading futures as well? Connect a futures feed such as Rithmic next to Schwab. Both connections run at the same time, and each chart uses the one you pick. The order flow page shows what a full tick and depth feed adds.
Connect Schwab once, then log in with your browser
Schwab uses a secure browser login. SabrTrader never sees your Schwab password.
- Create an app on developer.schwab.com and add both API products: Accounts and Trading, and Market Data.
- Copy the App Key, the App Secret and the Callback URL into a Charles Schwab connection in SabrTrader and save it.
- Click Connect. Your browser opens Schwab's login, you choose the accounts to link, and the connection goes live.
- Repeat the browser login when Schwab asks for it. Schwab's authorisation expires after a while. Your keys stay saved.
The guide covers every screen, including the callback warning your browser shows: Connecting Your Schwab Account to SabrTrader.
Schwab questions we get
Does Schwab provide Level 2 data for footprint charts?
Schwab has Level 2 for stocks and options, but a footprint is built from trades, not from Level 2. SabrTrader uses Schwab's Level 2 for the SuperDOM and the heatmap, and builds the footprint from Schwab's streaming last price, size and volume.
Can I trade futures through Schwab in SabrTrader?
No, you can only chart them. Schwab's trading API takes stock and option orders only. Schwab futures symbols chart with live quotes, but an order for one is refused before it's sent.
Can I place multi-leg option orders at Schwab?
Yes, up to four legs. They go to Schwab as one order with a net limit price, so the spread fills as a package. Single options and stock orders work from the same ticket.
Can I attach a stop and a target to a Schwab order?
You can. A bracket goes to Schwab as one order: when the entry fills, Schwab activates the target and the stop, and one cancels the other. Changing a working order at Schwab is a cancel and replace, so it gets a new order number.
Is there a Schwab paper trading connection?
There isn't. Schwab's API has no paper environment, so a Schwab connection is always your live brokerage account.
How often do I have to log in to Schwab again?
From time to time. Schwab's authorisation expires, and then Connect opens the browser login again. Your App Key, App Secret and Callback URL stay saved, so it takes a minute. Do it before the session, not with a position open.
Can I link more than one Schwab account?
Yes. During the browser login you choose which accounts to link, and every linked account shows up in SabrTrader under the one connection.
Give your Schwab account a proper trading desk
Install SabrTrader, link your Schwab account and open a chart, a ladder and an option chain on a symbol you trade.
Download SabrTrader free Compare plansWhich plan includes which tool is on the pricing page.