> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.sterlinglabs.co/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.sterlinglabs.co/portfolio/connecting-a-brokerage.md). # Connecting a brokerage Sterling reads your brokerage account through a secure linking portal. You sign in at your broker, inside the portal; Sterling receives read access and never sees your credentials. ## Supported brokerages | Brokerage | What updates, and how quickly | | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Chase (J.P. Morgan)** | Read-only. Updates arrive in periodic batches, usually overnight. A trade made this morning may not appear until the next batch. | | **Charles Schwab** | Read-only. Cash and balances update during the day with a lag of roughly 5 to 15 minutes. Positions and lots settle overnight. Money-market sweep funds are folded into cash. | | **Robinhood** | Read-only. Changes appear within about 2 to 5 minutes. A margin account shows negative cash when borrowing. Crypto holdings are listed separately. | | **Alpaca (Paper)** | Read-only paper-trading account. Changes appear within seconds. | ## Connecting 1. Open **Portfolio**. With nothing connected, the Overview shows **Connect brokerage**. Select it. If you already have a connection, select the **+** (Add brokerage) control at the right of the page header instead. 2. A small assistant panel labeled **Admin** opens and lists the brokerages you can connect. Select one to open its card, then select **Connect**. 3. The linking portal opens. Sign in to your broker there and approve read access. 4. When the portal confirms the link, Sterling starts reading the account. There is nothing further to do. Ask the Admin panel "is this safe?" for the security summary: Sterling never sees your credentials, access is read-only, data is encrypted at rest, and you can disconnect at any time. ## Your investor profile The first time you open Portfolio after connecting, Sterling asks you to complete an investor profile before it shows anything else: 17 questions in five short steps covering your accounts, financial context, risk appetite, tax situation, and constraints. A draft is saved as you go, so a refresh does not lose your answers. Select **Continue to Portfolio** at the end. You can change your answers later from your account settings. Changes take effect immediately and inform the Analyst's context when it discusses your portfolio. ## The first sync While the first sync runs, the Overview shows a setup screen with three steps: connecting, fetching, and building. A sync usually completes in about a minute. Until it does, every table and chart shows a syncing state. Your portfolio is in one of five states: | State | Meaning | | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Not started** | No brokerage connected. | | **Syncing** | A read is in progress. | | **Ready** | Everything is up to date. | | **Partially synced** | Some accounts synced and some did not. Figures cover the accounts that did. A **Partial** badge appears beside the page title with a banner naming the broker that failed and a **Try again** control. | | **Failed** | The sync did not complete. The setup screen shows the broker's message and, when Sterling will retry on its own, says so. | ## Keeping the book current **Automatic updates.** Your broker's changes reach Sterling on their own, at the pace each brokerage allows. A paper account updates within seconds and Robinhood within a few minutes. Schwab reports cash and balances during the day but settles positions and lots overnight, and Chase delivers everything in periodic batches, usually overnight. Sterling also checks for new orders every five minutes during market hours and takes a full snapshot each weekday evening. Expect a fresh trade to take minutes at the quickest brokerages and until the next batch at the slowest; the table above gives each one. Prices, by contrast, update independently of your broker: see [How the numbers are computed](/portfolio/how-numbers-work.md). **Refreshing by hand.** Select the refresh control in the page header, or **Try again** on the partial-sync banner, to request an immediate read. The controls pause for 45 seconds after each request, and Sterling accepts one request per minute. If you ask again too soon, the message tells you how many seconds to wait. The result arrives in place when the read completes. ## Disconnecting Open the brokerage menu in the page header and choose **Disconnect**, then confirm. If a sync is still finishing, the dialog waits and retries for about a minute, showing **Finishing your last sync…**. On a failure it reads **Couldn't disconnect. Please try again.** The confirmation dialog explains that disconnecting revokes the brokerage link and removes the synced data, and that it cannot be undone. After disconnecting, that brokerage's positions, trades, and activity leave the tables and charts. You can connect the same brokerage again at any time. ## Several accounts Connect as many brokerages as you like. The page header shows scope chips: **All** plus one chip per connected brokerage. Select a chip to narrow the Positions, Trade Log, and Activity tables to that brokerage's accounts. The KPI strip and the charts always describe the whole book regardless of the chip. **All** is the default and is restored on reload or when the selected brokerage is disconnected. A security held in two accounts appears as two rows in Positions; the **Broker** column tells them apart. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. 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