BitcoinCharts API

⭐ Beginner's Pick Cryptocurrency / No Auth Required Beginner HTTPS
Free to Use Varies (check documentation)

Overview

BitcoinCharts provides financial and technical data about the Bitcoin network, including historical market data from dozens of exchanges worldwide. The API lets you pull trade data, exchange-specific price feeds, and aggregate market stats without authentication. It is one of the longest-running Bitcoin data sources and is suitable for historical analysis projects.

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Beginner Tip

The main JSON endpoint is https://api.bitcoincharts.com/v1/markets.json and requires no API key — just open it in your browser or curl it directly. Note that data updates roughly every 15 minutes, so it is not suitable for real-time trading use.

Available Data

coin price in USD/EUR
market capitalization
24h price change
trading volume
circulating supply

Example Response

JSON Response
{
  "id": "bitcoin",
  "symbol": "btc",
  "current_price": 65432.1,
  "market_cap": 1280000000000,
  "price_change_24h": 1250.5,
  "price_change_percentage_24h": 1.95,
  "total_volume": 28500000000
}

Field Reference

symbol Unique exchange-currency identifier, e.g., krakenUSD or bitstampEUR.
currency Fiat or crypto currency used as the quote in this market.
avg Volume-weighted average price over the last 24 hours.
volume_btc 24-hour trading volume measured in BTC.
latest_trade Unix timestamp of the most recent trade recorded.

Implementation Example

const url = "https://bitcoincharts.com/about/exchanges/";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Stale or missing data for some markets Exchanges that have gone offline still appear but have null values for recent fields.
Filter results where the latest_trade timestamp is within an acceptable recency window before using the data.
Slow response time (10+ seconds) The API aggregates data from many exchanges on each request, which can be slow.
Implement a timeout in your HTTP client (e.g., 30 seconds) and cache the response for at least 15 minutes.
Fields absent for lesser-known exchanges Some smaller markets do not report all optional fields such as avg or volume_btc.
Always check for null or undefined before using optional fields in your application logic.

Matrix Score Breakdown

🌐 Reachability 0/30
⚡ Speed 15/20
🔒 Security 15/15
🛠 Developer XP 15/20
✓ Reliability 7/15
Response Time 341ms

Fully tested on Apr 5, 2026

Technical Specifications

Auth No Auth
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category Cryptocurrency
Difficulty Beginner
Verified: 2026-04-04

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