In 2018, developers lost the go-to stock APIs that Yahoo Finance and Google Finance offered. These were the staples of data APIs that developers around the world relied on to fuel their algorithmic trading and were used by many financial analysts to back-test their strategies and create live trading decisions. The deprecation of these two renowned powerhouses of data left a huge void to be filled. Now, in 2020, there are a plethora of stock API options available but which is the best and why? Enter FMP Cloud, a Stock API that is taking the API world by storm since their paid product went live in February 2020.
Here’s why they are our favorite and why you should use their API for all your Stock data needs.
What makes a good Stock API?
There are a number of characteristics that combine together to make a phenomenal Stock API.
- Flawless Documentation
Developers don’t have time to waste trying to understand what the hell was going on the original coders’ mind. You should be able to give the documentation a quick scan before being able to easily implement the API in your code.
- Simple to Use
It’s far better to have a number of simple tools that you can combine together to create something complex rather than a behemoth of an API that is tricky to utilize and only powerful once understood. In that vein, you want Stock APIs to be simple so that you can rapidly utilize the data it is providing. Simplicity is fundamental in enabling the developer to quickly become productive with data and start experimenting with the strategies they have devised.
- Accurate & Complete
What’s the point in using an API if it is incomplete or inaccurate? Accuracy, in particular, has been a notable flaw in many new APIs since the demise of Yahoo Finance and Google Finance. Completeness refers to the API’s capacity to perform all the functionality you anticipate needing. So, the API should be written with the end-user in mind and ensure total accuracy.
- Capable of High Performance
Naturally, a Stock API must be capable of passing vast volumes of data to the user accurately and in real-time. Additionally, speed is vital because Stock market data is changing every second of the trading day and the slightest blip in reporting could cost a trader thousands of dollars.
- Intuitive in Nature
This point somewhat summarizes the points around being simple to use and having good documentation. Intuitiveness in nature goes one step further. The stock API should be written with, you, the end-user in mind and with their utility in mind. This can be seen in stock APIs that point you to the right places and give you all the endpoints you might need.
Which Stock API is Our Favourite?
In March 2020, Financial Modeling Prep(FMP) released a carefully crafted paid version of their free Stock API with the key characteristics we mentioned at the front of their minds. The free version they had released was already setting the standard high but FMP Cloud is in a new echelon. This new Stock API has entered the Stock API market with a bang and users across the internet are RAVING about it. It goes above and beyond its competitors and offers data previously inaccessible to most traders. Not only does it provide real-time and historical data but it gives you access to data from the key 13F filings that you can access every financial information either in JSON or CSV format. Best of all, the data values FMP Cloud returns are already in number format (most Stock APIs are returning text) meaning developers don’t have to undertake the painstaking process of converting text to numbers. This is a simple but huge upgrade from the free version available.
Additionally, in conversations with the founder, we learned that they are deep in the process of curating a financial analyst learning experience. The vision for the learning tool is an immersive platform that guides people through the fundamentals of finance and then explains how to perform financial analysis, all whilst giving access to a real-time data portfolio to practice as you learn. This tool could revolutionize the finance world by giving students and finance novices a tool to become financially literate. By doing so, they could begin the democratization of an industry that has long stood to make the wealthier richer. We can’t wait to experience this product.
The Low Down
Rounding up, Stock APIs are a crucial piece to the puzzle of creating trading algorithms and testing your unique trading strategies. When you’re looking for a Stock API in 2020 you want to make sure that it is strong in the characteristics we discussed: documentation, simplicity, completeness, performance, and intuitiveness. A company that is striving towards excellence in this domain is Financial Modeling Prep(FMP) and its new premium Stock API, FMP Cloud. Their growth is exploding which is enabling them to develop their product to new heights. Though we can’t be sure, we anticipate their prices going up in the near future so sign up soon and lock in an unbelievable price. This kind of quality won’t stay this cheap for long!
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