Get Historical OHLCV Data Using CoinAPI

Introduction

This tutorial guides you through getting historical OHLCV data using CoinAPI.

CoinAPI offers extensive historical data across multiple cryptocurrency markets, which is critical for backtesting trading strategies, performing quantitative research, or even creating visualizations.
We will cover how to interact with our historical data endpoints using Python, JavaScript, and Java.

Understanding CoinAPI Endpoints

CoinAPI provides several endpoints for accessing historical data, including:

ohlcv/period_id/history: Provides historical OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) data for specified periods.
trades/symbol_id/history: Returns historical trades.
quotes/symbol_id/history: Provides historical quotes.

Remember, you need to replace period_Id and symbol_id with your desired period and symbol respectively.

Python Example

Using Python, we can use the requests library to interact with CoinAPI. If you don't have the requests library installed, you can add it using pip:

pip install requests

Here's an example:

import requests

def fetch_ohlcv():
    url = "https://rest.coinapi.io/v1/ohlcv/BINANCE_SPOT_ETH_BTC/history?period_id=1MTH&time_start=2023-03-01T00:00:00"
    headers = { "X-CoinAPI-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY" }  # Replace with your API key

    response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)

    # Check if the response is successful
    if response.status_code == 200:
        if response.content:
            return response.json()
        else:
            print("Response is empty.")
            return None
    else:
        # Handle other HTTP status codes
        print(f"Failed to fetch data. Status code: {response.status_code}")
        return None
    
print(fetch_ohlcv())

This script fetches the monthly OHLCV data for the ETH/BTC trading pair from the BINANCE exchange.
Here, BINANCE serves as the exchange platform, with ETH being the base asset and BTC as the quote asset.

Note: Don't forget to replace YOUR-API-KEY with your actual API key.

JavaScript Example

Make sure to install the nodejs runtime environment before.
In JavaScript, we can use the fetch API for sending requests to CoinAPI:

First, add package.json with node-fetch dependency:

{
  "type": "module",
  "dependencies": {
    "node-fetch": "^3.3.1"
  }
}

Add the following code and run npm install to install dependencies.

import fetch from 'node-fetch';

fetch('https://rest.coinapi.io/v1/ohlcv/BINANCE_SPOT_ETH_BTC/history?period_id=1MTH&time_start=2023-03-01T00:00:00', {
  headers: {
    "X-CoinAPI-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY" // Replace with your API key
  }
})
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => console.log(data))
.catch(error => console.error('Error:', error));

Note: Don't forget to replace YOUR-API-KEY with your actual API key.

Java Example

In Java, we can use the HttpURLConnection class to send HTTP requests:

import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class Main {

    private static final String API_KEY = "YOUR-API-KEY"; // Replace with your API key

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        URL url = new URL("https://rest.coinapi.io/v1/ohlcv/BINANCE_SPOT_ETH_BTC/history?period_id=1MTH&time_start=2023-03-01T00:00:00");
        HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
        conn.setRequestProperty("X-CoinAPI-Key", API_KEY);

        BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream()));
        String inputLine;
        StringBuffer content = new StringBuffer();
        while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) {
            content.append(inputLine);
        }

        in.close();
        conn.disconnect();

        System.out.println(content.toString());
    }
}

Note: Don't forget to replace YOUR-API-KEY with your actual API key.

Best Practices

Store API keys securely: never hard-code API keys. Instead, store them in secure configuration files or environment variables.
Handle rate limiting: be aware of CoinAPI's rate limits and handle 429 HTTP status codes gracefully in your application.
Efficient data fetching: use query parameters like time_start and limit effectively to get the data you need without excess.

Troubleshooting

In case you face any issues, ensure the following:

Your API key is correct and has the necessary permissions.
You are not exceeding the rate limit for your account type.
You are using the correct endpoint with proper request headers.
The symbol and period IDs you are using are valid and in the correct format.
You have the correct libraries or dependencies installed, and you're using a supported version of the language.

For more information, you can check REST API OHLVC docs

Was this section helpful?

Get Historical OHLCV Data Using CoinAPI

Introduction​

Understanding CoinAPI Endpoints​

Python Example​

JavaScript Example​

Java Example​

Best Practices​

Troubleshooting​

Introduction

Understanding CoinAPI Endpoints

Python Example

JavaScript Example

Java Example

Best Practices

Troubleshooting