Acorns API integration & OpenFinance investing data

Deliverables checklist

• OpenAPI 3.1 specification covering OAuth, statement, Round-Ups, IRA, and webhook endpoints
• Protocol report covering Acorns Partner OAuth client_id / client_secret pattern, mobile session handshake, and Plaid handoff for bank linking
• Runnable source for login, statement export, Round-Ups stream, and Bitcoin ETF allocation reads in Python and Node.js
• Postman / Insomnia collection plus pytest and Vitest suites with recorded fixtures
• Compliance pack: SEC / FINRA / SIPC / FDIC notes, CFPB Section 1033 alignment, NDAs, and consent record templates

Pricing & engagement

• Source code delivery from $300 — runnable code plus documentation, paid on satisfactory delivery
• Pay-per-call API billing — call our hosted Acorns gateway, no upfront fee, ideal for usage-based teams
• Optional retainer for endpoint upkeep when Acorns mobile or Partner API contracts change
• Sandbox or production credentials handled through encrypted handoff; we never store long-lived secrets

1. Unified household net worth

A wealth-tech startup pulls Acorns Invest holdings, Acorns Later IRA balances, Acorns Early custodial accounts, and Acorns Checking deposits via the OAuth flow. Each portfolio position is normalized into a common Holding schema (ticker, units, cost_basis, account_type) so the household net-worth view sits next to Plaid-fed brokerage data without double-counting Round-Ups transfers.

2. Tax preparation & IRA Match auditing

A tax-prep tool needs Acorns Later contribution history with IRA type, contribution date, and IRA Match earned (1% on Silver, 3% on Gold for the first year). Our integration delivers POST /api/v1/acorns/later/contributions with date filters, plus a webhook that fires on each new IRA Match accrual so the tax workspace can flag deductible contributions early.

3. Round-Ups gamification widget

A neobank embeds a "spare change saved this week" tile inside its own app. The Round-Ups event stream provides merchant name, base purchase amount, rounded delta, and the destination Acorns Core or Custom Portfolio. Events arrive within seconds via webhook; we ship a sample renderer that animates the spare change into a tree-growth visual.

4. Retirement readiness scoring

An employer benefits platform combines Acorns Later balances, projected IRA Match earnings, and Money Manager monthly allocations to score retirement readiness for the workforce. The integration reads /later/portfolio and /money-manager/allocations, then emits an aggregate score without exposing individual transactions to the employer — a CFPB Section 1033-aligned design.

5. Compliance & audit warehouse

A registered investment advisor mirrors all Acorns activity for a client into a regulated data warehouse. We pipe Round-Ups events, IRA contributions, Bitcoin-linked ETF allocations, and Acorns Checking transactions to BigQuery or Snowflake with deterministic event_id primary keys. The pipeline keeps consent state per record so revoked permissions stop downstream replay automatically.

OAuth: exchange auth code for token

POST /oauth/token HTTP/1.1
Host: api.acorns.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

grant_type=authorization_code&
code=<AUTH_CODE>&
client_id=<PARTNER_CLIENT_ID>&
client_secret=<PARTNER_CLIENT_SECRET>&
redirect_uri=https://your.app/oauth/callback

Response 200 OK
{
  "access_token": "eyJhbGciOi...",
  "token_type": "Bearer",
  "expires_in": 3600,
  "refresh_token": "rt_9f...",
  "scope": "read:invest read:later read:checking"
}

Statement: fetch Acorns Checking activity

POST /api/v1/acorns/checking/statement
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>

{
  "account_id": "chk_8e21...",
  "from_date": "2026-04-01",
  "to_date":   "2026-04-30",
  "include":   ["round_ups", "paycheck_split", "card_txn"]
}

Response 200 OK
{
  "account_id": "chk_8e21...",
  "currency":   "USD",
  "transactions": [
    {
      "txn_id":     "tx_01HXXY...",
      "ts":         "2026-04-12T18:42:11Z",
      "amount":     -4.23,
      "merchant":   "Blue Bottle Coffee",
      "mcc":        "5814",
      "round_up":   {"delta": 0.77, "target": "core_aggressive"}
    }
  ],
  "next_cursor": null
}

Webhook: Round-Ups event delivery

POST /your-app/webhooks/acorns
X-Acorns-Signature: t=1714756800,v1=8a3f...
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "event":    "round_up.created",
  "event_id": "evt_01HXY9R3...",
  "user_id":  "u_5c1f...",
  "data": {
    "base_amount":  3.23,
    "round_delta":  0.77,
    "merchant":     "Trader Joe's",
    "account_id":   "inv_a2...",
    "portfolio":    "custom_v2",
    "occurred_at":  "2026-04-12T18:42:11Z"
  }
}

# Verify signature server-side
import hmac, hashlib
secret = os.environ['ACORNS_WEBHOOK_SECRET']
mac = hmac.new(secret.encode(), msg=raw_body, digestmod=hashlib.sha256)
assert hmac.compare_digest(mac.hexdigest(), provided_v1)

Regulatory framing

Acorns Securities, LLC is a registered broker-dealer regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA, with SIPC protection up to $500,000 on investment accounts. Acorns Checking deposits sit at a partner bank and are FDIC-insured up to $250,000. Any integration we ship treats this data as regulated personal financial information under the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Section 1033 personal-financial-data rule.

Practical controls

• Written user authorization captured before any token issuance
• Token vault: short-lived access tokens, refresh tokens encrypted at rest with AES-256
• Audit log of every API call: event_id, user_id, scope, IP, response code
• Data minimization: scopes restricted to fields the downstream feature actually needs
• Right-to-revoke wired to webhook so revoked consent stops downstream replay

Betterment

Goal-based robo-advisor with tax-loss harvesting, IRAs, and joint accounts. Teams that already integrate Betterment portfolio data often want Acorns Round-Ups and Later side by side for unified retirement views.

Wealthfront

Automated investing, Cash Account, and Self-Driving Money. A common request is to merge Wealthfront direct-indexing positions with Acorns Custom Portfolio holdings into one ledger.

SoFi Invest

Active and automated investing inside SoFi's wider banking suite. Cashflow tools usually need both SoFi and Acorns Checking transactions to draw an accurate household picture.

Stash

Subscription-based investing with Stock-Back Card rewards. Stash + Acorns are the two most-cited US micro-investing brands, and dashboards regularly reconcile their respective rewards events.

Robinhood

Self-directed brokerage with stocks, options, and crypto. Pairing Robinhood holdings with Acorns Bitcoin-linked ETF allocation gives a complete crypto-exposure view.

M1 Finance

Custom "Pies" of stocks and ETFs with auto-investing rules. Customers who model portfolios in M1 often mirror the asset weights into Acorns Custom Portfolio for spare-change drip.

Public

Stocks, ETFs, treasuries, and alternative assets. Treasury yields data from Public alongside Acorns Emergency Savings (3.35% APY) supports unified yield comparisons.

Fidelity Go

Fidelity's robo offering inside the broader Fidelity ecosystem. Multi-custodian retirement dashboards routinely combine Fidelity Go IRAs with Acorns Later contributions and IRA Match tracking.

About OpenFinance Lab

We are an independent studio focused on fintech, brokerage, and open-data API integration. Our team includes engineers from U.S. broker-dealers, payment networks, and protocol-analysis backgrounds. We deliver SEC-, FINRA-, and CFPB-aware integrations end to end, from authorization design through compliant runtime.

• Brokerage, micro-investing, robo-advisor, and retirement systems
• OAuth, OpenBanking, and CFPB Section 1033 personal-finance flows
• Python, Node.js, Go, and Kotlin SDKs with full test harnesses
• Engineering pipeline: protocol analysis → build → validation → compliance review
• Source code delivery from $300 — runnable code plus docs, paid after delivery
• Pay-per-call gateway — usage-based pricing, no upfront cost

Contact

Send us your target app and concrete data needs (Round-Ups stream, Later IRA contributions, Bitcoin ETF allocation, Money Manager events). We respond with scope, timeline, and a fixed quote.

Open contact page

Engagement workflow

1. Scope confirmation: which Acorns surfaces (Invest, Later, Early, Checking, Money Manager) you need.
2. Acorns Partner API onboarding: we help you draft the email to partner-api@acorns.com and prepare the partner / aggregator distinction.
3. Protocol analysis and API design (2–5 business days)
4. Build and internal validation (3–8 business days) with recorded fixtures
5. Docs, sample apps, and pytest / Vitest suites (1–2 business days)
6. Typical first delivery: 5 to 12 business days; partner approval may extend timelines.

FAQ

Does Acorns offer an official Partner API?

What Acorns data can be exported to my system?

How do you handle SEC, FINRA, SIPC and FDIC compliance?

How long does an Acorns integration take to deliver?