diff --git a/api/web/dao/__init__.py b/api/web/dao/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..461715e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/web/dao/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"""Data Access Object layer for TradingAgents API."""
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diff --git a/api/web/dao/database.py b/api/web/dao/database.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..144918ff
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+++ b/api/web/dao/database.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+"""Database configuration and setup."""
+
+import os
+from sqlalchemy import create_engine
+from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import create_async_engine, AsyncSession
+from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
+
+# Build DATABASE_URL from environment variables
+POSTGRES_USER = os.getenv("POSTGRES_USER", "tradingagents")
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD = os.getenv("POSTGRES_PASSWORD")
+POSTGRES_DB = os.getenv("POSTGRES_DB", "tradingagents")
+POSTGRES_HOST = os.getenv("POSTGRES_HOST", "localhost")
+POSTGRES_PORT = os.getenv("POSTGRES_PORT", "5432")
+
+if not POSTGRES_PASSWORD:
+    raise ValueError("POSTGRES_PASSWORD environment variable is required")
+
+# Use asyncpg for async PostgreSQL
+ASYNC_DATABASE_URL = f"postgresql+asyncpg://{POSTGRES_USER}:{POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@{POSTGRES_HOST}:{POSTGRES_PORT}/{POSTGRES_DB}"
+
+async_engine = create_async_engine(ASYNC_DATABASE_URL)
+AsyncSessionLocal = sessionmaker(
+    async_engine, class_=AsyncSession, expire_on_commit=False
+)
+
+Base = declarative_base()
+
+
+async def get_db():
+    """Get async database session."""
+    async with AsyncSessionLocal() as session:
+        try:
+            yield session
+        finally:
+            await session.close()
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diff --git a/api/web/dao/models.py b/api/web/dao/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2fe4b7d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/web/dao/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+"""SQLAlchemy models for database tables."""
+
+from sqlalchemy import Column, Integer, String, Boolean
+from .database import Base
+
+
+class UserModel(Base):
+    __tablename__ = "users"
+
+    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True, index=True)
+    username = Column(String, unique=True, index=True, nullable=False)
+    email = Column(String, unique=True, index=True)
+    full_name = Column(String)
+    hashed_password = Column(String, nullable=False)
+    disabled = Column(Boolean, default=False)
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diff --git a/api/web/dao/user_dao.py b/api/web/dao/user_dao.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..65c4dc61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/web/dao/user_dao.py
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+"""User Data Access Object for database operations."""
+
+from typing import Optional
+from sqlalchemy import select
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
+from .models import UserModel
+
+
+class UserDAO:
+    """Data Access Object for User operations."""
+
+    @staticmethod
+    async def create_user(
+        db: AsyncSession,
+        username: str,
+        email: Optional[str],
+        full_name: Optional[str],
+        hashed_password: str,
+        disabled: bool = False
+    ) -> UserModel:
+        """Create a new user in the database."""
+        user = UserModel(
+            username=username,
+            email=email,
+            full_name=full_name,
+            hashed_password=hashed_password,
+            disabled=disabled
+        )
+        db.add(user)
+        await db.commit()
+        await db.refresh(user)
+        return user
+
+    @staticmethod
+    async def get_user_by_username(db: AsyncSession, username: str) -> Optional[UserModel]:
+        """Get user by username."""
+        result = await db.execute(select(UserModel).where(UserModel.username == username))
+        return result.scalar_one_or_none()
+
+    @staticmethod
+    async def get_user_by_email(db: AsyncSession, email: str) -> Optional[UserModel]:
+        """Get user by email."""
+        result = await db.execute(select(UserModel).where(UserModel.email == email))
+        return result.scalar_one_or_none()
+
+    @staticmethod
+    async def get_user_by_id(db: AsyncSession, user_id: int) -> Optional[UserModel]:
+        """Get user by ID."""
+        result = await db.execute(select(UserModel).where(UserModel.id == user_id))
+        return result.scalar_one_or_none()
+
+    @staticmethod
+    async def update_user(
+        db: AsyncSession,
+        user_id: int,
+        **kwargs
+    ) -> Optional[UserModel]:
+        """Update user fields."""
+        user = await UserDAO.get_user_by_id(db, user_id)
+        if user:
+            for key, value in kwargs.items():
+                if hasattr(user, key):
+                    setattr(user, key, value)
+            await db.commit()
+            await db.refresh(user)
+        return user
+
+    @staticmethod
+    async def delete_user(db: AsyncSession, user_id: int) -> bool:
+        """Delete user by ID."""
+        user = await UserDAO.get_user_by_id(db, user_id)
+        if user:
+            await db.delete(user)
+            await db.commit()
+            return True
+        return False
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diff --git a/api/web/routes/users.py b/api/web/routes/users.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a279d018
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/web/routes/users.py
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+"""User signup endpoint."""
+
+from typing import Optional
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, status
+from fastapi.security import OAuth2PasswordBearer
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
+from passlib.context import CryptContext
+from pydantic import BaseModel, EmailStr
+
+from ..dao.database import get_db
+from ..dao.user_dao import UserDAO
+from ..users import User
+
+
+router = APIRouter(prefix="/users", tags=["users"])
+
+pwd_context = CryptContext(schemes=["bcrypt"], deprecated="auto")
+
+
+class UserCreate(BaseModel):
+    username: str
+    email: Optional[EmailStr] = None
+    full_name: Optional[str] = None
+    password: str
+
+
+class UserResponse(BaseModel):
+    id: int
+    username: str
+    email: Optional[str] = None
+    full_name: Optional[str] = None
+    disabled: bool
+
+    class Config:
+        from_attributes = True
+
+
+def hash_password(password: str) -> str:
+    """Hash a password using bcrypt."""
+    return pwd_context.hash(password)
+
+
+@router.post("/signup", response_model=UserResponse, status_code=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
+async def signup(
+    user_data: UserCreate,
+    db: AsyncSession = Depends(get_db)
+):
+    """Create a new user account."""
+    # Check if username already exists
+    existing_user = await UserDAO.get_user_by_username(db, user_data.username)
+    if existing_user:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
+            detail="Username already registered"
+        )
+    
+    # Check if email already exists (if provided)
+    if user_data.email:
+        existing_email = await UserDAO.get_user_by_email(db, user_data.email)
+        if existing_email:
+            raise HTTPException(
+                status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
+                detail="Email already registered"
+            )
+    
+    # Hash the password
+    hashed_password = hash_password(user_data.password)
+    
+    # Create the user
+    user = await UserDAO.create_user(
+        db=db,
+        username=user_data.username,
+        email=user_data.email,
+        full_name=user_data.full_name,
+        hashed_password=hashed_password
+    )
+    
+    return UserResponse.from_orm(user)
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