By Keel Research Team
Updated October 15, 2026TradeStation's MCP connection gives Claude access to a TradeStation brokerage account. Keel's MCP gives an assistant something different: a way to build and backtest systematic strategies on Hyperliquid's crypto perps, with a backtest engine doing the maths. If you trade Hyperliquid, that is the relevant tool. If you trade stocks, options or futures through TradeStation, theirs is.
The two answer different questions. One lets an assistant act on an account you already have. The other lets it help you design a strategy, test it honestly and hand it off to run.
What TradeStation's MCP does
TradeStation released its MCP connection in January 2026, starting with Claude, with more AI platforms to follow. According to TradeStation's announcement, it lets customers link their brokerage account to the assistant to look at market data, review balances, positions and orders, and place trades by asking in plain language. It is for TradeStation customers with a funded account, and it needs a paid Claude plan.
For someone who already trades at TradeStation, that is useful: one chat window to read the news, check a position and place an order. The markets are the broker's markets. It does not reach Hyperliquid.
What Keel's MCP does
Keel runs one hosted MCP endpoint, https://mcp.usekeel.io/mcp. You paste it
into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another client that takes a remote MCP
server, and sign in or sign up when the Keel page opens. There is nothing to
install and no API key to create. In Claude Code it is one command:
claude mcp add --transport http keel https://mcp.usekeel.io/mcpOnce connected, the assistant can:
- search Keel's building blocks (market data, indicators, filters, ranking and position sizing) and read what each one takes and returns;
- assemble a strategy from them, which Keel checks before anything runs, so the assistant can't invent an indicator or a setting that doesn't exist;
- run a backtest over Hyperliquid price and funding history, with fees and slippage on every trade and real funding on every open position;
- read the results and give you a link to the run in the Keel app.
The hosted endpoint is for building, testing and reading. When you want to run a strategy on your account, the assistant hands it to the Keel app and you take it from there: paper trade it on live prices, or connect your Hyperliquid account and run it live. Your money stays in your own Hyperliquid account. Keel can place trades there but can never withdraw.
The setup for each assistant is on the agents page, and the Keel MCP page covers what the tools do.
The real difference: who makes the decision
With a brokerage MCP, the assistant is close to the order. You ask, it places the trade. That is fine for a one-off order you have already decided on. It is a weak way to run a strategy, because a language model is not consistent: ask the same question twice and you can get two different answers.
Keel keeps the assistant out of the trading loop. The assistant helps you build the strategy. Once it runs, the strategy places its own trades on the schedule it was built with, using the same compiled version you backtested. Nothing depends on what the assistant says that day.
| Question | TradeStation MCP | Keel MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Markets | TradeStation's brokerage markets | Hyperliquid crypto perpetual futures |
| What the assistant works with | Your brokerage account | Strategy building blocks and backtests |
| Backtests with funding | Not part of the connection | Fees, slippage and real funding on every run |
| Who places live trades | The assistant, when you ask | The strategy, on its schedule |
| Where your money sits | With the broker | In your own Hyperliquid account |
| Sign-in | TradeStation account and Claude | Your MCP client's sign-in flow, no API key |
Who should use which
Stay with TradeStation's MCP if you trade stocks, options or futures there and want an assistant that reads your account and places the orders you decide on.
Use Keel's MCP if you trade Hyperliquid perps and want an assistant to help you build and test a systematic strategy that then runs by itself.
Use both if you trade both. MCP clients such as Claude and Cursor can connect several servers at once, so one assistant can check your TradeStation account and backtest a Hyperliquid strategy in the same chat.
A prompt to try
Once Keel is connected, try something like:
Start from the funding carry strategy in the Keel library, use only the top 30 coins by volume, and backtest it over the last year.
The funding carry strategy ranks Hyperliquid perps by funding rate, shorts the coins paying the most and buys the ones paying negative funding, balanced long and short. The assistant changes the universe, Keel runs the backtest, and you get a link to the result with every trade and cost.
What Keel does not do
Keel trades Hyperliquid's crypto perps. Stock and index perps on Hyperliquid are HIP-3 markets, and Keel doesn't support them yet. Support is coming soon. Keel runs your strategy over the dates you choose and keeps every run, but walk-forward optimization and Monte Carlo resampling are not in the product. Paper trading on live prices is the next check after a backtest.