TickerLayer Python client

The Python client for the TickerLayer market data API. One API key covers stocks, forex, crypto, indices, ETFs, commodities, perpetual futures and government bond yields, over REST and a WebSocket stream, with one symbol format and one response shape.

• Sync and async clients with the same methods, typed responses.
• Errors carry the HTTP status and the API's error code.
• Retries the per-second rate limit, a 503 and network errors with backoff; never retries the monthly quota.
• The stream reconnects and resubscribes on its own.

Get a free API key at tickerlayer.com/signup.

Install

pip install tickerlayer

Python 3.9 or newer.

REST

from tickerlayer import TickerLayer

tl = TickerLayer()  # reads TICKERLAYER_API_KEY, or pass TickerLayer("your key")

quote = tl.quote("stocks", "US:KO")
# {'symbol': 'US:KO', 'bid': 93.87, 'ask': 93.99, 'bid_size': 100, 'ask_size': 200, 'timestamp': 1792500685080}

btc = tl.snapshot("crypto", "BTCUSD")
print(btc["last_price"], btc["change_percent"])

bars = tl.bars("stocks", "US:KO", start="2026-10-13", end="2026-10-17", sort="asc")
for bar in bars["results"]:
    print(bar["t"], bar["c"])

Symbols: stocks as COUNTRY:TICKER (US:KO, DE:BMW), crypto and forex as pairs (BTCUSD, EURUSD), commodities like XAUUSD, ETFs like US500ETF, indices like US500, perpetual contracts like XAUUSDT, bonds as COUNTRY:TENOR (US:10Y). Timestamps are Unix milliseconds.

asset is one of crypto, forex, stocks, indices, etfs, commodities, perpetuals. Route options are keyword arguments, for example tl.quote("etfs", "US500ETF", spread="full"). Every route and parameter is in the REST reference and the OpenAPI 3.1 spec.

Async

import asyncio
from tickerlayer import AsyncTickerLayer

async def main():
    async with AsyncTickerLayer() as tl:
        quote, btc = await asyncio.gather(tl.quote("stocks", "US:KO"), tl.snapshot("crypto", "BTCUSD"))
        print(quote["bid"], btc["last_price"])

asyncio.run(main())

Errors

A failed request raises TickerLayerError with status (0 when there was no answer), code (for example REST_RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED, REST_QUOTA_EXCEEDED), body and retry_after in seconds.

from tickerlayer import TickerLayerError

try:
    tl.quote("stocks", "US:KO")
except TickerLayerError as err:
    if err.status == 404:
        print("not in the catalog")
    else:
        raise

Options: TickerLayer(api_key, timeout=15.0, max_retries=2, base_url=..., http_client=...).

WebSocket stream

import asyncio
from tickerlayer import AsyncTickerLayer

async def main():
    tl = AsyncTickerLayer()
    async with tl.stream() as stream:
        await stream.subscribe(["stocks.quotes", "stocks.trades"], ["US:KO", "US:JPM"])
        await stream.subscribe("crypto.quotes", ["BTCUSD", "ETHUSD"])
        async for frame in stream:
            if frame["type"] == "quote":
                print(frame["symbol"], float(frame["bid"]), float(frame["ask"]), frame["ts"])

asyncio.run(main())

• Subscribe once: the client sends it as soon as the server is ready and again after every reconnect. More than 500 symbols are split into several messages.
• Frames are dicts as the server sends them. Quote and trade prices are strings on some channels ("bid": "93.87") and numbers on others, so read them with float(). The stream reference lists every channel and frame.
• Subscribe options are keyword arguments: snapshot, view, spread, interval and session on the bar channels, and the rest of the documented options.
• Reconnects wait longer after each failed attempt, up to 30 seconds (tl.stream(max_reconnect_delay=...)), and start over once a connection has stayed up for a minute. After a server release the client is back within a second. A refused key ends the stream with a TickerLayerError. tl.stream(reconnect=False) turns reconnects off.
• stream() is available on TickerLayer too; the stream itself always runs in asyncio.

Links

• Documentation
• Pricing
• MCP server for AI agents
• JavaScript client

License

MIT