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Market Data API

How to Access Market Data for Free Using Alpaca API?

Alpaca Team
Alpaca Team

This tutorial will be a step by step demonstration of how to get market data using the Alpaca API. We will move forward assuming that you’ve registered on Alpaca.  If you have not, please check out the tutorial guides on  “How to register for an account on Alpaca ?” or “How to open a live trading account as a US/ non-US resident?”

Alpaca - Commission-Free API First Stock Brokerage
Alpaca is a modern platform for trading. Alpaca’s API is the interface for your trading algorithms, bots, or applications to communicate with Alpaca’s brokerage and other services.

Alpaca provides market data from various sources. To learn more about data options and which one is right for you, please see this page.

Market Data - Documentation | Alpaca
Alpaca API lets you build and trade with real-time market data for free.
More information on Market Data

Step 1:

Let’s create a class called “pythonBuyBot” and paste our code for the endpoints in the class.

class

Step 2:

Similarly let’s create a function to get market data for Apple(AAPL). Within this function we print out how much AAPL has moved in the specific timeframe.

One can find similar code in the Alpaca Docs

Code to Get Market Data
Code to Get Market Data

The terminal output should look like this.(Numbers will vary)

Terminal Output

Step 3:

Below find a GIF showing everything we have discussed today:

Function to Get Market Data for AAPL
Function to Get Market Data for AAPL

Commission Free Algorithmic Trading...Alpaca API


Thank you for using Alpaca. Here are a couple more links that  you might be interested in.

Alpaca GitHub repository

Alpaca
Alpaca builds an API for free stock trading. Alpaca has 39 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.

Alpaca Blog

Alpaca Blog | API for Stock Trading
Alpaca Blog for product updates, new integration, and more. Alpaca’s commission-free trading API is built for algorithmic trading and building apps

Alpaca Forum

Alpaca Community Forum
Alpaca user forum for FAQ, feature requests, many discussions around Alpaca stock trading API

Alpaca API documentation

Documentation | Alpaca
Alpaca API lets you build and trade with real-time market data for free.

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Commission-Free trading means that there are no commission charges for Alpaca self-directed individual cash brokerage accounts that trade U.S. listed securities through an API. Relevant SEC and FINRA fees may apply.

Brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC ("Alpaca"), memberFINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Technology and services are offered by AlpacaDB, Inc.

Market Data API

Alpaca Team

API-first stock brokerage. *Securities are offered through Alpaca Securities LLC* http://alpaca.markets/#disclosures