If you have years of experience in quantitative trading, you are likely very familiar with the Google Finance API. It was once a very popular tool in the financial trading industry, and it had many advantages over its competitors. Google Finance API not only provided real-time stock market data but also allowed users to create and manage their own portfolios. Users could monitor the market performance of their investment portfolios through the API and keep up to date with the trends of each asset. During the famous "flash crash" event in the U.S. stock market history in 2010, many data services experienced interruptions during the market's violent fluctuations. However, Google Finance API continued to provide continuous and stable data, earning its reputation in that event. Unfortunately, on October 20, 2012, Google announced the closure of this service. It was subsequently integrated into its own online spreadsheet tool (Google Sheets), allowing users to query market data only through built-in formulas, rather than querying data with code as before. If you are a light-weight user, the current built-in method in Google Sheets can still meet some of your needs. Below is some basic tutorial content for Google Finance API. Retrieve historical market data Formula: GOOGLEFINANCE(ticker, [attribute], [start_date], [end_date|num_days], [interval]) The GOOGLEFINANCE at the beginning is the command to call the formula, and the parameters are input inside the parentheses: - ticker: Stock code, it is important to add the exchange name in front of the code for more accurate queries, for example, NASDAQ:GOOG is the stock code for Google. - attribute: Default is price, optional - start_date: Start date - end_date: End date - interval: Time interval Let's query Google's historical stock price as a demonstration, formula: =GOOGLEFINANCE("NASDAQ:GOOG", "price", DATE(2023,1,1), DATE(2023,12,31), "DAILY") Google Finance API to query historical stock market data You can see that the table has returned the closing price of Google for each trading day from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023. Query stock price-to-earnings ratio Formula: GOOGLEFINANCE(ticker, "pe") This formula is quite simple, with only two parameters, ticker is the stock code mentioned above, and "pe" does not need to be modified. The following formula is to query the price-to-earnings ratio of Amazon's stock: =GOOGLEFINANCE("NASDAQ:AMZN", "pe") Query the price-to-earnings ratio of Amazon's stock Query earnings per share Formula: =GOOGLEFINANCE(ticker, "eps") The formula is not complicated, similar to the price-to-earnings ratio formula. The following demonstrates the query for earnings per share of Apple's stock: =GOOGLEFINANCE("NASDAQ:AAPL", "eps") Query formula for earnings per share of Apple's stock Shortcomings of Google Finance API Currently, Google Finance API can only access data through formulas in spreadsheets, which is not helpful for programs that require deep customization. Moreover, Google's official documentation clearly states that the data is not real-time, and there is a 20-minute delay in market data. If you have higher requirements for data, you may need to look for other alternatives. Alltick's financial market data interface is specifically designed for quantitative trading, exchanges, and investment institutions. Our API covers a wider range of assets, including U.S. stocks, Hong Kong stocks, foreign exchange, commodity futures, and cryptocurrencies. Moreover, we provide real-time high-frequency data, pushed through WebSocket, with an average latency of only about 170 milliseconds. We are currently offering a free trial, and interested friends can contact our customer service.
Google Finance API was once a key tool for real-time market data and portfolio management, gaining prominence for its reliability, especially during events like the 2010 "flash crash." However, Google discontinued the API on October 20, 2012. Since then, market data has been accessible only through Google Sheets using built-in formulas. These formulas allow users to query historical data, price-to-earnings ratios, and earnings per share, but the data is subject to a 20-minute delay and is limited in customization. For those needing real-time data and more advanced features, Alltick provides a comprehensive solution. Their API supports a wide range of assets, including U.S. stocks, Hong Kong stocks, forex, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. Alltick offers real-time high-frequency data with an average latency of around 170 milliseconds. They also offer a free trial for those interested in exploring their services.