Nasdaq Data Link
Financial data API (ex-Quandl). Alternative data, futures, economics.
Overview
Nasdaq Data Link (formerly Quandl) is a cloud-based financial data platform acquired by Nasdaq in 2018. The platform provides access to a wide variety of financial and economic datasets through a unified API, covering equities, futures, options, commodities, fixed income, and alternative data.
Nasdaq Data Link serves as a data marketplace where publishers make their datasets available to subscribers. The platform is known for its developer-friendly approach, offering data in multiple formats (CSV, JSON, XML) with client libraries for Python, R, Ruby, and Excel.
The platform is particularly valued by quantitative analysts, data scientists, and algorithmic traders who need programmatic access to diverse financial datasets through a single API interface.
Key Features
- Data Marketplace: Hundreds of datasets from premium publishers covering financial markets, economics, and alternative data.
- Unified API: Single API interface for accessing all datasets regardless of publisher or format.
- Time-Series Data: Standardized time-series format for easy consumption of historical data.
- Tables Format: Structured tabular data for complex datasets requiring multiple dimensions.
- Multiple Formats: Data available in CSV, JSON, and XML for flexible integration.
- Client Libraries: Official SDKs for Python, R, Ruby, and Excel add-in.
- Real-time Data: Real-time and delayed market data for US-listed securities through the Bars endpoint.
- OHLCV Bars: Open/High/Low/Close/Volume data at various intervals for charting and analysis.
Data Coverage
| Data Type | Details | |-----------|---------| | Financial Markets | US equities, futures, options, commodities | | Economic Data | Macro indicators, employment, trade, housing | | Alternative Data | Sentiment, satellite, web traffic, and other non-traditional data | | Fixed Income | Bond yields, rates, credit data | | Commodities | Precious metals, energy, agriculture | | Geographic | Global coverage through publisher network |
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Features | |------|-------|----------| | Free | $0 | Limited datasets, 300 calls/10s, 2,000 calls/10min, 50,000 calls/day | | Premium Datasets | Varies | A la carte subscription to individual premium datasets | | Premium API | Varies | 5,000 calls/10min, 720,000 calls/day |
Premium dataset pricing varies by publisher and data type. Subscriptions are a la carte — subscribe to individual datasets as needed.
API Access
Nasdaq Data Link provides a REST API accessible with an API key. Free accounts include generous rate limits (300 calls/10 seconds, 50,000 calls/day). Premium subscribers get higher limits (5,000 calls/10 minutes, 720,000 calls/day). The Bars endpoint provides real-time and historical OHLCV data for all US-listed and OTCBB securities. Official Python, R, and Ruby client libraries available.
Getting Started
- Register for a free account at data.nasdaq.com.
- Browse the marketplace to find datasets relevant to your analysis.
- Generate an API key from your account settings.
- Install the Python library:
pip install nasdaq-data-link. - Start with free datasets to test your integration.
- Subscribe to premium datasets as needed for your specific requirements.