Get started with Alpha Vantage Data
I need some data…
But I’m unsure where to start, where do I go?
Well, thanks for asking.
Getting started with Alpha Vantage
Alpha Vantage API is a powerful tool to get real-time stock quotes, historical data, cryptocurrencies, technical indicators, FX rates, and more. For those unfamiliar with APIs, it’s a way to directly get the raw data over the internet. Link for API information here.
Sign up
Here is the link to sign up, which takes ~1 minute, and has cool fireworks!
Now you have access to making calls to get your data right away. Here’s a link to our documentation.
If you want access to more API calls/minute, we have premium keys too, those rates are here.
How to use — quick start
Now that we have our keys let’s look at some of the common ways people implement getting the data.
Python
Please copy the code below, it has all the steps laid out in the comments sections, and a few samples of the alpha_vantage open-source python library, and it includes Pandas support! “pip install alpha_vantage” will be your starting tool. Thanks Romel!
Or a more in-depth version:
Excel
Prefer to access data via Excel? Download and install the Excel Add-On, and get technical indicators, quotes, and all the data you need RIGHT in your excel spreadsheet.
Google sheets
Similarly, we have a google sheets add-on in the Sheets add-on store, located here. It has similar functionality to the excel add on.
Tableau
If you use Tableau, go to getalphavantage.co/tableau_wdc in your web data connection section of Tableau, and punch in your key, and the data you want!
Anything else
And here is the beauty of it, you can do whatever you want! It’s completely language agnostic and you can choose to get the data however you want. Java, Ruby, C#, Javascript, anything that can call an API works! And all the URLs are right in the documentation. There are 300+ github repos using Alpha Vantage.
And that’s it! Now you’re ready to go!
Questions? Can’t get on? Want to learn more? You can always read on about the industry or our stock API guide! Stock market APIs typically come in two different forms — REST endpoints and WebSockets. You can also refer to this in-depth review of REST vs. WebSockets. Or you just love how cool our fireworks are when you sign up? Let us know!
#stockapi #financialdataapi #fintech #algotrading #finance #investing
