Whether you’re an algorithmic investor looking to create a systematic edge for yourself or a provider of financial technology platforms, APIs are necessary to create the financial systems you utilize.
A simple way to grasp this concept would be to imagine you are looking at a flowing river that stretches as long as you can see.
You can see the river, you can see the water flowing in the river, but you can’t see where the water is coming from. There must be a lake or an ocean that is constantly providing water to the river, but not one that is within your sight.
That lake or ocean is the proverbial API!
Financial APIs are the back-end data that go into any financial platform that you aren’t able to see when you’re on the website or platform.
Data such as the real-time prices of stocks constantly flashing a new number or the newsfeed that instantly posts a press release at 8 a.m. on the dot are both examples of financial tools you use that are provided via API.
Here are a few financial data sets that you might be surprised to know are all integrated into platforms via API:
Many financial data sets have become such a commodity now (pun intended) that most people don’t think twice about how they get them or where these pieces come from.
However, before you pay that shady-looking guy in the alleyway for a cheap API, you might want to check for these important factors.
A good data partner will always give at least some wiggle room for you. Since APIs are high-margin products, every data provider can afford to budge at least a little to have your business. That said, lowballing your vendors could lead to them not doing business with you, so finding a healthy balance is a key to getting a good API and saving a few bucks while you’re at it.
Some data vendors add a latency (or delay) to their API data to maintain a competitive edge on their financial products. This delay can be anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. If you don’t ask, many data vendors might sneak this little piece of information past you, so always make sure to ask about this before buying any API!
Another way data vendors may try to maintain a competitive edge is by limiting the amount of API calls a buyer is allowed to do per minute.
This is essentially the frequency of how often you can update or request for new information. So, if you had a “live” stock quote that was only allowed to do 1 API call per minute, the quote would only update every minute. Knowing how often you can make an API call is another key to knowing how fast the data will end up showing on your platform.
There are a few different types of data distributors that you may want to consider based on what you are looking for. The standard API is a rest API. This is the type where you need to make an API call to get real-time data (the fastest APIs typically offer 1 call per second).
Looking for something even faster in sub-second speeds? You’ll need to buy TCP data. TCP does not require that the user makes a request (like an API call) in order to get the data. It pushes the data out to you as close to instantaneously as possible.
On the other hand, if you don’t require fast data for the data set you’re looking for, then an FTP may be the route for you. FTPs typically provide end-of-day data.
Examples of this could be fundamental data like P/E, P/S, EV/EBITDA, etc. Financial data pieces like this don’t typically need to be updated throughout, so having this by the end of the day is more than sufficient. Buying FTP can be much cheaper, too, for this reason.
Now that we have a good understanding of what an API is and what it’s used for, it’s time to go over our top picks for the best financial APIs out there!
The following APIs are known for having amazing news coverage that allows you to make the best trades and investments.
Benzinga’s newsfeed is known for providing extensive market coverage in a timely speed. The API has no latency, the newsfeed is available via rest API, FTP, TCP, and it allows for a 1 API call per second. The website includes easy-to-use API documents as well.
Xignite is another well-known financial API provider. Its news feed has coverage of U.S. equities (NASDAQ, NYSE, NYSE MKT). One downside to this newsfeed API is that it’s delayed a few minutes, which can be the determining factor for most traders who are looking to receive news as fast as possible.
However, positives include coverage of more than 75 popular publications and ease of embedding into spreadsheets, websites and mobile applications.
You can see a small sample of Stocknewsapi.com data within a widget embedded on the website. On top of that, it includes some unique data fields with news headlines such as sentiment, image and even type (video or text).
The largest downside to this API is that it aggregates content from external news providers and you can only get full-length articles (which have much lower coverage and delayed headlines by a matter of hours).
If you’re looking for analyst ratings, these finance APIs will keep you in the know.
When it comes to analyst ratings, TipRanks is the first name to come to many people’s minds, and for good reason. TipRanks’ Daily Analyst Ratings API provides comprehensive coverage on analyst actions, firms, price target changes, specific analyst names, contact information and a proprietary analyst star rating.
It allows for financial publishers to integrate an easy-to-consume widget on the website.
Benzinga’s analyst ratings calendar API provides the basics of what every trader needs when it comes to analyst actions at an affordable, flexible price. The API includes the analyst name, action, price target change and the firm. For most financial publishers and platforms, this amount of coverage is perfect.
Barcharts.com is the simplest coverage available. For platform providers who are just looking for standard coverage of stocks with a strong buy, moderate buy, hold, moderate sell or strong sell rating, this is your API. It provides the basic info that traders look for without extra data fields or noisy headlines.
API coverage isn’t complete without a comprehensive earnings report. Check out these APIs for the most up-to-date information on earnings.
While Earningscalendar.net is not excessively intricate, it ranks as our “best for earnings” API due to its good coverage and extremely affordable and transparent price. In this case, simplicity, affordability and transparency do prevail. Its earnings dates are indexed from multiple sources to ensure data quality. The Premium API cost $50 per month.
XIgnite’s earnings calendar API comes with 89-day forward-looking coverage on all earnings. It includes data columns such as the timing of earnings release, forecasted and confirmed dates, shareholder/board meeting dates and more. Pricing for XIgnite is more expensive, as expected, which is expected for its more advanced earnings calendar that goes above basic coverage. Its stock universe includes over 6,300 U.S. and global companies.
Benzinga’s earnings API is a quality data piece, with its earnings coverage on all U.S. equities and inclusion of quality analyst estimates to compare to actual earnings. Pricing does include flexibility, but it can be more expensive than other options. That said, the data quality and coverage exceed the competition.
Multiple data accuracy tests and relevant consensus analyst estimate data fields mean that this API is known for its data quality.
Looking for API provider that follows a few key metrics like price, flexibility, latency, API calls allowed per minute, types available and data quality?
Consider this: If you buy multiple APIs from a single vendor, there is typically more price flexibility if they offer package data deals. However, some vendors, such as TipRanks, do specialize in providing one quality data API based on what the company focuses on.
Partners with ESG Book to Drive Investor Sustainability Engagement
SAN MATEO, Calif., April 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Xignite, Inc., the leading provider of market data APIs to brokers and wealth managers, announced the launch of a new Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data API in partnership with ESG Book, a global leader in ESG data and technology. Xignite's brokerage, wealth, and media customers can now increase user engagement and retention with state-of-the-art sustainability trading products.
As ESG investment has gone mainstream, today's digital investors, institutional investors, and corporations alike require ESG data to help them answer questions that range from a company's workforce diversity to its commitment to a net zero future. In this context, brokers and wealth managers can use ESG data to increase client engagement around their portfolios and differentiate their offerings in a very fragmented marketplace.
"We are thrilled to extend our highly scalable and advanced API platform to include ESG Book's real-time sustainability dataset. With the recent SEC announcement of proposals for climate disclosure, the momentum for sustainability data in the U.S. just keeps on building. If you do not offer ESG data and portfolio analytics to your clients today, you will run into growth and retention challenges," said Stéphane Duboi, the CEO of Xignite.
Dr Daniel Klier, CEO of ESG Book, said: "As capital markets transition towards a more sustainable, net-zero future, demand for accessible, comparable and transparent ESG data has never been higher. We are delighted to be partnering with Xignite, a global leader in API solutions, to deliver our real-time ESG data products to clients at both speed and scale through the latest cloud technology."
Xignite's new ESG API is designed to fast track the launch of ESG powered products. Transparent, well-structured and easy to understand ESG datasets eliminate the need for robust in-house ESG expertise. Advanced screener endpoints further simplify development by eliminating the need to maintain a database.
XigniteGlobalESG API covers a comprehensive universe of public companies domiciled in North America, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America. In addition to ESG scores, this API provides Global Compact scores, involvement data, temperature scores, and raw emissions data.
About Xignite
Xignite is the leading provider of market data API solutions to brokers, wealth managers, and the tech firms who serve them. Xignite has been disrupting the market data industry from Silicon Valley since 2003 when it introduced the first commercial REST API. Today, more than 700 firms use Xignite's APIs more than half a trillion times a month to deliver high-value data to digital investors. Visit xignite.com or follow us on Twitter @xignite.
About ESG Book
ESG Book is a global leader in sustainability data and technology. Through a cloud-based platform, ESG Book makes sustainability data more widely available and comparable for all stakeholders, enables companies to be custodians of their own data, provides framework-neutral ESG information in real-time, and promotes transparency. It counts many of the world's leading financial organisations among its clients, which collectively manage over $120 trillion in assets. www.esgbook.com
04/12/2022
Sales Up 50%. API Volumes Now Exceed Half a Trillion per Month.
Xignite, Inc., the leading provider of market data APIs to brokers and wealth managers, announced that 2021 was a banner year for its business. Xignite experienced more than 50% growth in new client bookings over 2020. Most of this growth was fueled by heavy demand from new brokerage and wealth management applications as more firms entered the business. Xignite also saw a 53% increase in API consumption to a whopping half a trillion requests a month - driven mainly by increased activity from digital investors as they consumed more and more data during the pandemic.
The Digital Investor Revolution was created by the convergence of zero-cost trading, fractional shares, working from home, the pandemic, and the emergence of a new and more powerful generation of retail investors. This has created significant momentum in trading and wealth management, primarily US-based equity and options trading. And it has fueled the entrance of a considerable number of new prominent players in the field, especially embedded finance providers. It all came to light in early 2021 with the Reddit and Gamestop phenomenon. But it has not proven to be short-lived. The transformation could be profound. Indeed Xignite saw its momentum accelerate in Q4-2021, with bookings growth exceeding 310% over the same quarter in 2020.
“Xignite is one of the oldest and most scalable commercial API infrastructures globally. It’s not a surprise that our clients have grown to rely on us for their mission-critical business needs,” says Stephane Dubois, Xignite’s CEO and Founder. “It’s not only the mind-numbing volumes that we have to deal with,” adds Dubois, “It’s also the 4-nine+ level of availability we deliver day in and day out coupled with the awesome market data quality and the high touch responsiveness of our support teams. These metrics matter to large embedded finance firms entering the business or legacy firms migrating to the cloud. They spend tens of millions of dollars entering the business. They don’t want to see it evaporate because of poor data quality or API availability.”
About Xignite
Xignite powers the investing apps and services that enable millions of people to manage their portfolios and trade stocks from a phone or tablet with the industry’s best financial market data APIs. We help more than 700 fintech trading, investment, and analytics firms like Robinhood, SoFi, and Betterment provide digital investors with the market data they need, such as real-time stock prices and company news. Visit xignite.com or follow on Twitter @xignite.
03/10/2022
Xignite, Inc., the leading provider of market data APIs to brokers and wealth managers, announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency data API. Xignite’s brokerage, wealth, and media customers can now increase the value and stickiness of their services to digital investors by taking advantage of the depth and breadth of data offered by this API.
Investment in cryptocurrencies has increased dramatically over the last few years and has proven to draw new investors into the world of trading. As a result, brokerage companies are trying hard to make buying, selling, and holding Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), and other cryptocurrencies as easy as possible for their clients. The XigniteCrypto API is the first to bring together a vast universe of cryptocurrency information alongside the equity, ETF, and option data brokers and fund managers need to offer high-quality services to their clients. It also provides the depth of functionality required for them to engage customers and drive trading activity
“Cryptocurrencies tend to operate in their own world,” said Stephane Dubois, CEO, and Founder of Xignite. “This means that if you want to offer integrated equity, option, and crypto trading or analytics for your clients, you are going to have to cobble up a lot of heterogeneous data from many disparate sources, and that’s a pain,” adds Dubois. “With our new crypto API, you get the depth of coverage, the quality, and the reliability across all asset classes you need to grow your business - all in one integrated solution.”
Xignite’s new cryptocurrency API, XigniteCrypto, provides real-time and historical quotes for over 900 cryptocurrencies, including coins and tokens. It includes unique API endpoints that help firms engage digital investors, using the data and tools they need to make crypto trading decisions, including price alerts, historical charting, currency conversion, and cryptocurrency news.
About Xignite
Xignite is the leading provider of market data API solutions to brokers, wealth managers, and the tech firms who serve them. Xignite has been disrupting the market data industry from Silicon Valley since 2003, when it introduced the first commercial REST API. Since then, Xignite has continually taken advantage of new technologies to help its clients grow their business and serve their customers better by using financial market data effectively. Today, more than 700 firms use Xignite’s APIs more than half a trillion times a month to deliver high-value data to digital investors. Visit xignite.com or follow on Twitter @xignite.
02/15/2022
Xignite, Inc., a cloud-based market data distribution and management solutions provider for financial services and technology companies, announced a new Vendor of Record service for clients subscribing to real-time and delayed market data. The new service vastly simplifies the administration and reporting required by exchanges and often eliminates the need to pay redistribution fees, potentially saving clients thousands of dollars a month.
As an approved Vendor of Record, also called a Service Facilitator, Xignite can redistribute real-time and delayed equities and options pricing data from Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Options Price Reporting Authority (OPRA), OTC Markets (OTCM), and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).
Adhering to the complex compliance guidelines required by exchanges is extremely difficult for investment advisers, financial advisers, or order management software providers that need to display real-time or delayed data. Each exchange has its own unique set of regulations and compliance requirements, and clients need to prove that they have control over who receives the data, in what format, and for what use case. Xignite’s Vendor of Record service eliminates the administrative burden of tracking these complex compliance requirements.
The new service utilizes Xignite’s cloud-native Entitlements and Usage Microservices to give firms complete control and transparency of their data consumption and usage. Xignite provides data entitlements, usage tracking, and exchange reporting across various data sets, users, and applications to ensure exchange compliance. Xignite’s new service sometimes eliminates the need to pay expensive redistribution fees. Exchange fees for display data, regardless of the number of users, can cost upwards of $10,000 per month. These high fees are especially difficult for smaller financial firms with just a few real-time data users.
“Maneuvering through the maze of required compliance policies, entitlements, usage tracking, and reporting requirements, and being subjected to frequent audits is no easy feat,” said Vijay Choudhary, Head of Product for Xignite. “Xignite’s mission is to “Make Market Data Easy.” Today’s announcement is another step towards this. We are taking away the administrative burdens and complexity of licensing market data and allowing our clients the freedom to focus on their investment and trading strategies and building innovative products.”
Xignite’s Vendor of Record service is available for professional users with internal and display-only use cases. The service is available now as an add-on service for subscribers of our real-time and delayed equities and options pricing data APIs. These include:
About Xignite
Xignite has been disrupting the financial and market data industry from its Silicon Valley headquarters since 2003 when it introduced the first commercial REST API. Since then, Xignite has continually refined its technology to help Fintech and financial institutions get the most value from their data. Today, more than 700 clients access over 500 cloud-native APIs to build efficient and cost-effective enterprise data management solutions. Visit xignite.com or follow on Twitter @xignite.
09/21/2021
