Why this is urgent: Right now, every price on the site is generated by a random-walk simulator from a stale seed (~Aug 2024). The brain isn't learning from real market behavior. Wiring one of the providers below takes ~5 minutes and fixes this completely.
🎯 Pick a provider
🥇 Finnhub FREE TIER · RECOMMENDED
Real-time US stock trades. 60 calls/min on the free plan. Easiest provider to start with — no credit card, no broker account. Just sign up and grab an API key.
✓ Free · ✓ Real-time US stock trades · ✓ Most pages on the desk support it · ✓ Sign up takes 60 seconds
✗ Free tier has 60 calls/min cap · ✗ Options data is paid · ✗ Historical bars limited
Polygon.io $30+/mo
Institutional-grade. Real-time stocks + options + forex + crypto. The most complete coverage. Worth it if you're serious.
✓ Full options chain · ✓ Real dark pool prints · ✓ 5+ years of historical bars · ✓ WebSocket reliable
✗ Costs $29/mo minimum · ✗ Needs credit card
Alpaca FREE (IEX)
Free real-time IEX feed (covers ~3% of trades but enough for retail). If you're already trading paper on Alpaca, the same API key works here.
✓ Free · ✓ Same key as Alpaca paper broker · ✓ Lets autopilot eventually wire real orders
✗ IEX-only on free tier (subset of US trades) · ✗ Need both key + secret
Tradier $10/mo
Broker-tier. If you already have a Tradier account, you have access. Solid for both quotes and order routing.
✓ Real broker integration · ✓ Real options chains · ✓ Order routing
✗ Need broker account · ✗ Brokerage data plan required
📋 Setup walkthrough (Finnhub example)
1Sign up. Go to finnhub.io/register with your email. Verify. Free tier auto-activates.
2Copy your API key. Dashboard → API Keys panel. It's a long string starting with letters/numbers.
3Open Settings. Click Settings in the top nav. Scroll to "Data Provider".
4Configure. Provider dropdown → "Finnhub". API key field → paste. Toggle "Enable live feed" → ON. Click "Save & Connect".
5Verify. The red DEMO MODE banner at the top should disappear within a few seconds. The status pill in the nav should show "LIVE" with a green dot.
6Reset the brain. Open Data Truth → click "Quarantine all mock training data". The brain is now a blank slate ready to learn from real prices.
7Trade and label. Use Autopilot or close trades manually in Journal PRO. After ~20 real labeled trades the brain has a clean training set.
⚠ A note on security: API keys are stored in your browser's localStorage. They never leave your machine. But that also means if someone has access to your browser, they have your key. Don't share screenshots that include the key. Rotate it occasionally on the provider's dashboard.
Banner won't go away: Open browser dev tools → console → type window.BPLEONE_DATA_MODE. If it says 'mock', the provider didn't connect. Check Settings → status indicator. Likely wrong key or rate-limit hit.
Prices look stuck: Some providers only stream during market hours. After-hours you may see no movement. That's normal.
Wrong symbols missing: Some providers don't cover OTC tickers. Stick to major exchanges (NYSE/NASDAQ) for free-tier providers.
Crypto: Finnhub free covers BTC/ETH via Binance feed. Polygon has the most complete crypto.
The platform behavior changes in a few ways:
• Every chart and price ticker on every page updates from real ticks instead of the OU walk.
• New brain findings are tagged dataSource: 'live' automatically.
• The ML trainer accepts these findings for training (vs skipping mock).
• The red DEMO banner disappears site-wide.
• The Data Truth page turns green.
• Per-symbol learned weights start reflecting real market behavior instead of simulator behavior.