7 Free APIs for Financial Data (Stocks, Crypto, Forex — No Paid Plan)

#python #finance #api #tutorial

Bloomberg terminal costs $24,000/year. These 7 free APIs give you most of the data you actually need.

1. Yahoo Finance — Stock Data (No Key)

import requests

def get_stock(symbol):
    url = f'https://query1.finance.yahoo.com/v8/finance/chart/{symbol}'
    resp = requests.get(url, headers={'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0'},
                        params={'interval': '1d', 'range': '5d'})
    meta = resp.json()['chart']['result'][0]['meta']
    price = meta['regularMarketPrice']
    prev = meta['previousClose']
    change = price - prev
    print(f"${symbol}: ${price:.2f} ({'+' if change>0 else ''}{change:.2f})")

get_stock('AAPL')   # Apple
get_stock('TSLA')   # Tesla
get_stock('NVDA')   # NVIDIA

No key needed. Real-time-ish data.

2. CoinGecko — Crypto Prices (No Key)

10,000+ coins with market cap, volume, and 24h change.

def get_crypto(coins=['bitcoin','ethereum','solana']):
    resp = requests.get('https://api.coingecko.com/api/v3/simple/price', params={
        'ids': ','.join(coins),
        'vs_currencies': 'usd',
        'include_24hr_change': 'true'
    })
    for coin, data in resp.json().items():
        print(f"{coin}: ${data['usd']:,.2f} ({data.get('usd_24h_change',0):+.1f}%)")

get_crypto()

3. Exchange Rate API — Forex (No Key)

150+ currencies, updated daily.

def forex(base='USD'):
    resp = requests.get(f'https://open.er-api.com/v6/latest/{base}')
    rates = resp.json()['rates']
    for currency in ['EUR', 'GBP', 'JPY', 'CHF']:
        print(f"1 {base} = {rates[currency]} {currency}")

forex('USD')

4. FRED — Economic Indicators (Free Key)

The Federal Reserve's data API. GDP, unemployment, inflation, interest rates.

FRED_KEY = 'your_free_key'  # fred.stlouisfed.org

def get_indicator(series_id, name):
    resp = requests.get('https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations', params={
        'series_id': series_id, 'api_key': FRED_KEY,
        'file_type': 'json', 'sort_order': 'desc', 'limit': 3
    })
    for obs in resp.json().get('observations', []):
        print(f"{name}: {obs['value']} ({obs['date']})")

get_indicator('UNRATE', 'Unemployment')
get_indicator('CPIAUCSL', 'CPI')

5. Alpha Vantage — Fundamentals (Free Key)

Earnings, balance sheets, income statements.

AV_KEY = 'your_free_key'  # alphavantage.co

def get_earnings(symbol):
    resp = requests.get('https://www.alphavantage.co/query', params={
        'function': 'EARNINGS', 'symbol': symbol, 'apikey': AV_KEY
    })
    for q in resp.json().get('quarterlyEarnings', [])[:4]:
        print(f"{q['fiscalDateEnding']}: EPS ${q['reportedEPS']} (est: ${q['estimatedEPS']})")

get_earnings('AAPL')

6. IEX Cloud — Market Data (Free Tier)

Real-time quotes, news, and company data.

7. Finnhub — Stock News & Sentiment (Free Key)

Company news, sentiment analysis, insider transactions.

FH_KEY = 'your_free_key'  # finnhub.io

def get_news(symbol):
    from datetime import datetime, timedelta
    today = datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
    week_ago = (datetime.now() - timedelta(days=7)).strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
    resp = requests.get('https://finnhub.io/api/v1/company-news', params={
        'symbol': symbol, 'from': week_ago, 'to': today, 'token': FH_KEY
    })
    for article in resp.json()[:5]:
        print(f"  {article['headline'][:70]}")
        print(f"  Source: {article['source']}\n")

get_news('TSLA')

Build a Dashboard

def market_snapshot():
    print("=== Stocks ===")
    for s in ['AAPL', 'GOOGL', 'MSFT', 'TSLA', 'NVDA']:
        get_stock(s)

    print("\n=== Crypto ===")
    get_crypto(['bitcoin', 'ethereum', 'solana'])

    print("\n=== Forex ===")
    forex('USD')

market_snapshot()