diff --git a/QuantConnect.AlpacaBrokerage/AlpacaBrokerage.DataQueueHandler.cs b/QuantConnect.AlpacaBrokerage/AlpacaBrokerage.DataQueueHandler.cs
index c45a698..ff65749 100644
--- a/QuantConnect.AlpacaBrokerage/AlpacaBrokerage.DataQueueHandler.cs
+++ b/QuantConnect.AlpacaBrokerage/AlpacaBrokerage.DataQueueHandler.cs
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ public void SetJob(LiveNodePacket job)
         // required for trading
         job.BrokerageData.TryGetValue("alpaca-access-token", out var accessToken);
 
-        var usePaperTrading = Convert.ToBoolean(job.BrokerageData["alpaca-paper-trading"]);
+        // might not be there if only used as a data source
+        var usePaperTrading = job.BrokerageData.TryGetValue("alpaca-paper-trading", out var usePaper) && Convert.ToBoolean(usePaper);
 
         Initialize(apiKey, secretKey, accessToken, usePaperTrading, null, null);
         if (!IsConnected)