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Overview

Glossary

Authoritative definitions for products, roles, and authorization terms

Single source of truth for Whale Docs terminology. Product pages link here instead of re-defining these terms.

Products

Term Definition
Longport Whale The SaaS securities business solution for brokers; the product this portal describes.
Whale Docs The unified documentation portal for Longport Whale. It is a portal, not an API product.
WhaleSDK The umbrella name for Whale client SDK products, containing the graphical WhaleAppSDK and the UI-free WhaleCoreSDK.
WhaleAppSDK The graphical SDK in WhaleSDK, delivered as iOS, Android, and WebTrade form factors.
WhaleCoreSDK The UI-free data SDK in WhaleSDK, targeting iOS, Android, and Web. iOS and Android are available; the WebAssembly version for Web is in development. It provides market-data subscriptions, WebSocket connectivity, request signing, and token renewal.
WebTrade The web trading client form factor of WhaleAppSDK, equivalent to the web version of the iOS/Android App. It can be deployed on a standalone domain for direct user access or embedded in a Broker’s website via iframe. PWA installation to the desktop is also supported.
BrokerAPI Institution-grade API for Server-to-Server integration or a Broker’s self-built administration system. Requests originate from a Broker-controlled server and may cover approved data and SaaS back-office capabilities.
TradingAPI The client-scoped HTTP API used by a Broker App with WhaleCoreSDK when the Broker builds the securities UI from scratch.
OpenAPI Open capabilities for Broker Clients building algorithmic trading, quantitative analysis, and developer tools. MCP and other AI-native interfaces let a Client authorize AI access to account, asset, quote, and fundamental data.

Parties & roles

Term Definition
Broker The licensed securities firm that purchases and operates Longport Whale; also the authorization boundary of BrokerAPI.
Client The end client served by a broker; the authorization boundary of TradingAPI and OpenAPI.
Broker Developer A developer building server-side integrations or in-house clients on behalf of the broker.
Broker App Developer A developer integrating WhaleAppSDK (iOS, Android, or WebTrade) or WhaleCoreSDK into Broker App.
Developer A Broker Client using OpenAPI for algorithmic trading, quantitative analysis, developer tools, or AI applications.

Authorization

Term Definition
Broker-scoped Authorization Institution-level access granted by the broker; can reach data across the broker’s approved scope.
Client-scoped Authorization Access granted by a single client; covers only that client’s private data plus platform-public content.

Security identifiers

A security has two identifier formats in Whale: counter_id is used internally, and symbol is used by OpenAPI. A counter_id converts to a symbol one-way, but not the reverse.

counter_id

counter_id is the identifier used throughout the Longport Whale system. Wherever a counter_id appears across internal APIs and scenarios, its meaning is consistent. The format is {TYPE}/{MARKET}/{CODE}.

Segment Meaning Notes
TYPE Security type See the table below; uppercased when parsed
MARKET Market e.g. US, HK, SH, SZ, SG, JP; uppercased when parsed
CODE Security code Case-sensitive; kept as-is

TYPE values:

TYPE Meaning
ST Stock
ETF Exchange-traded fund
UT Off-exchange fund (excluding money market)
MMF Money market fund
WT Warrant
IX Market index
BK Sector / custom index
OP Option (US only)
DLC Singapore Daily Leverage Certificate
VA Virtual asset (crypto)
PE Private equity fund
LB Unlisted company
TN Private security (no quote)
DP Wealth derivatives product

Examples:

  • ST/US/NVDA — Nvidia (US)
  • ST/HK/700 — Tencent (HK)
  • ST/SZ/11245, ST/SH/076251 — A-shares (SH and SZ belong to region CN)
  • ST/SG/D05 — Singapore stock
  • OP/US/BILI/220304C30500 — US option (the CODE segment may contain additional /)

Notes:

  • CODE is case-sensitive; TYPE and MARKET are uppercased when parsed.
  • HK numeric codes are zero-padded to 5 digits for display (e.g. 00700), but the counter_id string itself uses the raw code (e.g. 700).

symbol

symbol is used by OpenAPI, with the format {CODE}.{MARKET} — for example TSLA.US, 700.HK.

Note

Conversion is one-way: drop the TYPE segment from a counter_id and reorder it to {CODE}.{MARKET} to get the symbol (e.g. ST/HK/700 → 700.HK). The reverse is not possible directly, since a symbol carries no TYPE.

User & Account Identifiers

Identifiers for back-office users, administrators, end clients, and account records within the Longport Whale system.

Term Definition
user_id The internal identifier assigned to a back-office user in the Longport Whale administration system. Identifies administrators and staff acting on the Broker’s behalf; not a client-side identifier.
admin_id The internal identifier assigned to an administrator account in the Longport Whale back-office system. Used alongside user_id to identify the administrator performing management operations.
member_id The internal identifier assigned by Whale to a Broker’s end client (C-side user). Obtained when a Broker first associates a client with Whale via BrokerAPI (e.g., at login or registration for account opening). The Broker must persist the open_id → member_id mapping for subsequent operations.
account_channel The unique string identifier of a Broker (tenant) within the Whale system (e.g., longport_test). Rarely used in regular integrations; may appear in certain historical API parameters where its value is always the Broker’s own account_channel string.
aaid The internal numeric identifier of a securities account that has been successfully opened in the Whale system (Account Admin ID). Used in API calls to reference a specific securities account; not visible to end clients.
account_no The securities account number visible in the client-facing application. Assigned after a successful account opening; the Broker should persist it for subsequent account status queries and operations.
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