alpha-vantage

Alpha Vantage — Financial Market Data

Access 20+ years of global financial data: equities, options, forex, crypto, commodities, economic indicators, and 50+ technical indicators.

API Key Setup (Required)

1. Get a free key at https://www.alphavantage.co/support/#api-key (premium plans available for higher rate limits)
2. Set as environment variable:

export ALPHAVANTAGE_API_KEY="your_key_here"

Installation

uv pip install requests pandas

Base URL & Request Pattern

All requests go to:

https://www.alphavantage.co/query?function=FUNCTION_NAME&apikey=YOUR_KEY&...params

import requests
import os

API_KEY = os.environ.get("ALPHAVANTAGE_API_KEY")
BASE_URL = "https://www.alphavantage.co/query"

def av_get(function, **params):
    response = requests.get(BASE_URL, params={"function": function, "apikey": API_KEY, **params})
    return response.json()

Quick Start Examples

# Stock quote (latest price)
quote = av_get("GLOBAL_QUOTE", symbol="AAPL")
price = quote["Global Quote"]["05. price"]

# Daily OHLCV
daily = av_get("TIME_SERIES_DAILY", symbol="AAPL", outputsize="compact")
ts = daily["Time Series (Daily)"]

# Company fundamentals
overview = av_get("OVERVIEW", symbol="AAPL")
print(overview["MarketCapitalization"], overview["PERatio"])

# Income statement
income = av_get("INCOME_STATEMENT", symbol="AAPL")
annual = income["annualReports"][0]  # Most recent annual

# Crypto price
crypto = av_get("DIGITAL_CURRENCY_DAILY", symbol="BTC", market="USD")

# Economic indicator
gdp = av_get("REAL_GDP", interval="annual")

# Technical indicator
rsi = av_get("RSI", symbol="AAPL", interval="daily", time_period=14, series_type="close")

API Categories

| Category | Key Functions |

|----------|--------------|

| Time Series (Stocks) | GLOBAL_QUOTE, TIME_SERIES_INTRADAY, TIME_SERIES_DAILY, TIME_SERIES_WEEKLY, TIME_SERIES_MONTHLY |

| Options | REALTIME_OPTIONS, HISTORICAL_OPTIONS |

| Alpha Intelligence | NEWS_SENTIMENT, EARNINGS_CALL_TRANSCRIPT, TOP_GAINERS_LOSERS, INSIDER_TRANSACTIONS, ANALYTICS_FIXED_WINDOW |

| Fundamentals | OVERVIEW, ETF_PROFILE, INCOME_STATEMENT, BALANCE_SHEET, CASH_FLOW, EARNINGS, DIVIDENDS, SPLITS |

| Forex (FX) | CURRENCY_EXCHANGE_RATE, FX_INTRADAY, FX_DAILY, FX_WEEKLY, FX_MONTHLY |

| Crypto | CURRENCY_EXCHANGE_RATE, CRYPTO_INTRADAY, DIGITAL_CURRENCY_DAILY |

| Commodities | GOLD (WTI spot), BRENT, NATURAL_GAS, COPPER, WHEAT, CORN, COFFEE, ALL_COMMODITIES |

| Economic Indicators | REAL_GDP, TREASURY_YIELD, FEDERAL_FUNDS_RATE, CPI, INFLATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, NONFARM_PAYROLL |

| Technical Indicators | SMA, EMA, MACD, RSI, BBANDS, STOCH, ADX, ATR, OBV, VWAP, and 40+ more |

Common Parameters

| Parameter | Values | Notes |

|-----------|--------|-------|

| outputsize | compact / full | compact = last 100 points; full = 20+ years |

| datatype | json / csv | Default: json |

| interval | 1min, 5min, 15min, 30min, 60min, daily, weekly, monthly | Depends on endpoint |

| adjusted | true / false | Adjust for splits/dividends |

Rate Limits

• Free tier: 25 requests/day (as of 2026)
• Premium plans: higher limits, real-time data, intraday access
• HTTP 429 = rate limit exceeded
• Add delays between requests when processing multiple symbols

import time
# Add delay to avoid rate limits
time.sleep(0.5)  # 0.5s between requests on free tier

Error Handling

data = av_get("GLOBAL_QUOTE", symbol="AAPL")

# Check for API errors
if "Error Message" in data:
    raise ValueError(f"API Error: {data['Error Message']}")
if "Note" in data:
    print(f"Rate limit warning: {data['Note']}")
if "Information" in data:
    print(f"API info: {data['Information']}")

Reference Files

Load these for detailed endpoint documentation:

• [time-series.md](references/time-series.md) — Stock OHLCV data, quotes, bulk quotes, market status
• [fundamentals.md](references/fundamentals.md) — Company overview, financial statements, earnings, dividends, splits
• [options.md](references/options.md) — Realtime and historical options chain data
• [intelligence.md](references/intelligence.md) — News/sentiment, earnings transcripts, insider transactions, analytics
• [forex-crypto.md](references/forex-crypto.md) — Forex exchange rates and cryptocurrency prices
• [commodities.md](references/commodities.md) — Gold, silver, oil, natural gas, agricultural commodities
• [economic-indicators.md](references/economic-indicators.md) — GDP, CPI, interest rates, employment data
• [technical-indicators.md](references/technical-indicators.md) — 50+ technical analysis indicators (SMA, EMA, MACD, RSI, etc.)