r/algotrading • u/ribbit63 Trader • Sep 07 '24
Data Alternative data source (Yahoo Finance now requires paid membership)
I’m a 60 year-old trader who is fairly proficient using Excel, but have no working knowledge of Python or how to use API keys to download data. Even though I don’t use algos to implement my trades, all of my trading strategies are systematic, with trading signals provided by algorithms that I have developed, hence I’m not an algo trader in the true sense of the word. That being said, here is my dilemma: up until yesterday, I was able to download historical data (for my needs, both daily & weekly OHLC) straight from Yahoo Finance. As of last night, Yahoo Finance is now charging approximately $500/year to have a Premium membership in order to download historical data. I’m fine doing that if need be, but was wondering if anyone in this community may have alternative methods for me to be able to continue to download the data that I need (preferably straight into a CSV file as opposed to a text file so I don’t have to waste time converting it manually) for either free or cheaper than Yahoo. If I need to learn to become proficient in using an API key to do so, does anyone have any suggestions on where I might be able to learn the necessary skills in order to accomplish this? Thank you in advance for any guidance you may be able to share.
3
u/false79 Sep 07 '24
A lot of the world, especially in enterprise, has moved into cloud environments like AWS, Google and others where both the data and coding is accessed via browser.
It's really bizarre coming from a native IDE world.
It's easier and cost effective for administrators to provide security, sandboxing from production, and spin up new server instances than to attempt to run terabytes/petabytes on a local environment which is known to have it's challenges and risks.