# ResearchClaw - Round 4 Data Sources Research Summary
**Date:** 2026-02-25 03:12 UTC
**Task:** Research 20 new free financial data sources not yet used by QuantClaw Data
**Status:** ✅ COMPLETE
---
## Deliverable
**File:** `/home/quant/apps/quantclaw-data/NEW_DATA_SOURCES.md` (updated)
**Total Sources:** 60 (20 per round × 3 previous + 20 new)
**New Sources Added:** 20 (Round 4)
---
## Round 4 Sources Added (Organized by Category)
### Macro Economic Data (2 sources)
1. **FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)** - 816,000+ US economic time series including yield curves
2. **Econdb** - Global macroeconomic database (40+ countries, 500,000+ series)
### Stock Market Data (5 sources)
3. **Alpaca Markets** - Free paper trading + real-time US equities data
4. **Financial Modeling Prep** - Financial statements, ratios, DCF models
5. **Hotstoks** - SQL-powered stock market queries + unusual options activity
6. **Intrinio** - Institutional-grade multi-asset financial data feeds
7. **Finage** - Global multi-asset data including emerging markets
### Crypto & Blockchain (5 sources)
8. **CoinGecko** - 13,000+ coins, DeFi data, NFT floor prices (most comprehensive free crypto source)
9. **Kraken** - High-quality crypto exchange data (spot & futures)
10. **Etherscan** - Ethereum blockchain explorer (essential for on-chain analysis)
11. **Brave NewCoin** - Institutional crypto pricing indices from 200+ exchanges
12. **Gemini** - Regulated US crypto exchange data
### Alternative Data (4 sources)
13. **Plaid** - Bank account & transaction data (sandbox mode free)
14. **Nordigen (GoCardless)** - EU Open Banking consumer transaction data
15. **Styvio** - Stock data + AI-powered sentiment analysis
16. **WallStreetBets API** - Dedicated r/wallstreetbets sentiment tracking
### Institutional & Fundamental Data (1 source)
17. **Aletheia** - AI-powered earnings call analysis + insider trading data
### Portfolio Analytics (1 source)
18. **Portfolio Optimizer** - Mean-variance optimization, Black-Litterman models
### Reference Data - India Markets (2 sources)
19. **Indian Mutual Fund** - Complete NAV history for Indian mutual funds
20. **Razorpay IFSC** - Indian banking codes (IFSC, MICR)
---
## Key Coverage Gaps Filled
✅ **Federal Reserve Data** - FRED (THE source for US economic data, yield curves)
✅ **Unified Global Macro** - Econdb (500K+ series across 40+ countries)
✅ **Free Paper Trading** - Alpaca (full algo development platform)
✅ **AI Earnings Analysis** - Aletheia (NLP-powered earnings call insights)
✅ **Portfolio Optimization** - Academic-quality optimization tools
✅ **Most Comprehensive Crypto** - CoinGecko (13K+ coins, DeFi, NFT)
✅ **Ethereum On-Chain** - Etherscan (critical for DeFi analysis)
✅ **Meme Stock Sentiment** - Dedicated WallStreetBets API
✅ **EU Open Banking** - Nordigen (real consumer transaction patterns)
✅ **Emerging Markets** - Finage (broader global coverage)
✅ **India Markets** - Mutual fund NAV + banking codes
---
## Integration Priority (Top 5 for Immediate Use)
### 🥇 Tier 1 - Critical Infrastructure
1. **FRED** - Federal Reserve Economic Data
- **Why:** 816,000+ US economic time series
- **Use case:** Yield curves, inflation data, M2 money supply, Fed policy indicators
- **Rate limit:** 120 requests/minute (extremely generous)
- **Cost:** FREE forever (public data)
- **Integration complexity:** Low (simple REST API)
2. **CoinGecko** - Comprehensive Crypto Data
- **Why:** Most comprehensive free crypto source (13,000+ coins)
- **Use case:** All crypto price data, DeFi protocols, NFT floor prices
- **Rate limit:** 10-50 calls/minute (no key required)
- **Cost:** FREE (optional paid tier for higher limits)
- **Integration complexity:** Low (excellent docs)
3. **Alpaca** - Paper Trading Platform
- **Why:** Free unlimited paper trading + algo development environment
- **Use case:** Test trading strategies, build algo trading bots
- **Rate limit:** Unlimited for paper trading
- **Cost:** FREE for paper trading (real-time data $9/mo)
- **Integration complexity:** Medium (full brokerage API)
4. **Financial Modeling Prep** - Stock Fundamentals
- **Why:** Comprehensive fundamental analysis data
- **Use case:** Financial statements, ratios, DCF valuations, earnings calendar
- **Rate limit:** 250 requests/day (free tier)
- **Cost:** FREE ($14/mo for 750/day)
- **Integration complexity:** Low (clean REST API)
5. **Etherscan** - Ethereum Blockchain
- **Why:** Essential for any Ethereum/DeFi analysis
- **Use case:** On-chain transactions, smart contract data, gas prices, token flows
- **Rate limit:** 5 calls/second, 100,000/day
- **Cost:** FREE ($49/mo for Pro)
- **Integration complexity:** Medium (blockchain-specific)
---
## Comparison to Previous Rounds
### Previously Available (Rounds 1-3):
- **Macro:** World Bank, IMF, Quandl, OECD, Eurostat, BIS, Trading Economics
- **Stocks:** Marketstack, Polygon, Alpha Vantage, Twelve Data, Finnhub, Tiingo, IEX Cloud, EOD Historical, Tradier
- **Crypto:** Binance, Messari, Glassnode, IntoTheBlock, Whale Alert, LunarCrush, Dune, The Graph, Covalent, Bitquery, Santiment, CoinMetrics
- **Alt Data:** GDELT, FINRA, OpenSky, AeroDataBox, Reddit, Twitter
- **Institutional:** SEC EDGAR, WhaleWisdom, Dataroma, Insider Monkey
### New in Round 4:
- **First Federal Reserve data** (FRED - 816K+ series)
- **First unified global macro** (Econdb - 40+ countries)
- **First paper trading platform** (Alpaca)
- **First AI earnings analysis** (Aletheia)
- **First portfolio optimization tools** (Portfolio Optimizer)
- **Most comprehensive crypto** (CoinGecko - 13K+ coins vs competitors)
- **First Ethereum blockchain explorer** (Etherscan)
- **First Open Banking data** (Nordigen - EU consumer transactions)
- **First India market coverage** (Mutual Fund NAV, IFSC codes)
- **First dedicated WSB sentiment** (WallStreetBets API)
---
## Rate Limits & Cost Summary
### Excellent Rate Limits (Production-Ready)
- **FRED:** 120 req/min → ~173K/day (enough for any use case)
- **Etherscan:** 5 req/sec → 432K/day
- **Gemini:** 120 req/min → ~173K/day
- **Alpaca:** Unlimited (paper trading)
- **CoinGecko:** 10-50 req/min → ~14K-72K/day
### Good Rate Limits (Most Use Cases)
- **Econdb:** 100K data points/month
- **Portfolio Optimizer:** 3K requests/month
- **Financial Modeling Prep:** 250 req/day
- **Aletheia:** 100 req/day
- **Styvio:** 100 req/day
### Adequate for Specific Use Cases
- **Hotstoks:** 1K queries/month
- **Finage:** 1K req/month
- **Brave NewCoin:** 50 req/day
- **WallStreetBets:** Free tier available
### Sandbox/Development Only
- **Plaid:** Unlimited (sandbox), production paid
- **Nordigen:** 100 end users free, then paid
- **Intrinio:** Limited sandbox access
---
## Authentication Breakdown
**No Auth Required (2 sources):**
- Indian Mutual Fund
- Razorpay IFSC
**Free API Key (17 sources):**
- FRED, Econdb, Alpaca, Financial Modeling Prep, Hotstoks
- Aletheia, Styvio, Finage, Intrinio (sandbox)
- CoinGecko (optional), Etherscan, Brave NewCoin
- Plaid (sandbox), Nordigen, Portfolio Optimizer
- WallStreetBets
**Public Endpoints (No Key) (2 sources):**
- Kraken (public data only)
- Gemini (public data only)
---
## Data Quality Assessment
### Tier 1 - Institutional Grade
- **FRED** - Official Federal Reserve data
- **Econdb** - Aggregates official government sources
- **Alpaca** - SEC-registered broker-dealer
- **Etherscan** - Industry-standard Ethereum explorer
- **Intrinio** - Used by hedge funds
### Tier 2 - Production Ready
- **CoinGecko** - Trusted by major crypto platforms
- **Kraken** - Top-tier regulated exchange
- **Gemini** - Winklevoss-backed regulated exchange
- **Financial Modeling Prep** - Widely used by retail traders
- **Aletheia** - AI-powered fundamental analysis
- **Portfolio Optimizer** - Academic algorithms
- **Finage** - Professional market data provider
### Tier 3 - Community/Aggregated
- **WallStreetBets** - Community sentiment (useful but noisy)
- **Styvio** - Emerging sentiment platform
- **Indian Mutual Fund** - Community-maintained
- **Plaid/Nordigen** - Sandbox mode (production is institutional-grade)
---
## Technical Integration Complexity
### Low Complexity (Quick Integration)
- **FRED** - Simple REST, excellent docs
- **CoinGecko** - RESTful, no auth needed for basic
- **Financial Modeling Prep** - Clean REST API
- **Etherscan** - Well-documented REST API
- **Kraken/Gemini** - Standard exchange APIs
- **Indian Mutual Fund** - Simple JSON API
### Medium Complexity
- **Alpaca** - Full brokerage API (more endpoints)
- **Econdb** - Time series data handling
- **Portfolio Optimizer** - Mathematical models
- **Plaid** - OAuth flow, webhook setup
- **Nordigen** - Open Banking protocols
- **Aletheia** - NLP output parsing
### Higher Complexity
- **Hotstoks** - SQL query interface
- **Intrinio** - Multiple data feeds
- **WallStreetBets** - Sentiment analysis pipeline
---
## Use Case Mapping
### For Macro Trading Strategies
→ FRED, Econdb, Trading Economics (from Round 3)
### For Stock Fundamental Analysis
→ Financial Modeling Prep, Aletheia, Intrinio, Finnhub (from Round 2)
### For Algo Trading Development
→ Alpaca (paper trading), IEX Cloud (Round 3), Tradier (Round 3)
### For Crypto/DeFi Analysis
→ CoinGecko, Etherscan, Dune (Round 3), The Graph (Round 3)
### For Portfolio Management
→ Portfolio Optimizer, Alpaca, Financial Modeling Prep
### For Social Sentiment Trading
→ WallStreetBets, Reddit (Round 3), Twitter (Round 3), LunarCrush (Round 2)
### For Alternative Data Strategies
→ Plaid, Nordigen, OpenSky (Round 3), GDELT (Round 1)
### For India Market Focus
→ Indian Mutual Fund, Razorpay IFSC, Tiingo (has India coverage)
---
## Recommended Integration Sequence
### Phase 1 - Foundation (Week 1-2)
1. FRED - Get US macro data flowing
2. CoinGecko - Replace/supplement existing crypto sources
3. Alpaca - Set up paper trading environment
4. Financial Modeling Prep - Stock fundamentals
### Phase 2 - Advanced Analytics (Week 3-4)
5. Etherscan - Ethereum on-chain data
6. Portfolio Optimizer - Portfolio analytics module
7. Aletheia - Earnings call analysis pipeline
8. Econdb - Global macro dashboard
### Phase 3 - Sentiment & Alternative (Week 5-6)
9. WallStreetBets - Social sentiment module
10. Styvio - Combine with existing sentiment sources
11. Kraken + Gemini - Additional crypto exchange data
### Phase 4 - Specialized (Week 7-8)
12. Plaid (sandbox) - Consumer spending insights
13. Nordigen (if EU focus) - Open Banking data
14. Finage - Emerging markets coverage
15. Indian sources (if India market focus)
---
## Risk & Compliance Notes
### No Issues
- FRED, Econdb - Public government data
- CoinGecko, Kraken, Gemini - Public market data
- Etherscan - Public blockchain data
- Indian sources - Public data
### Sandbox/Development Only
- **Plaid** - Sandbox is free, production requires payment + compliance
- **Nordigen** - Free tier limited to 100 end users
- **Intrinio** - Sandbox only, production is paid
### Rate Limit Monitoring Required
- **Financial Modeling Prep** - 250/day could be limiting
- **Aletheia** - 100/day for heavy usage
- **WallStreetBets** - Monitor for stability
### Terms of Service Review Required
- **Alpaca** - Brokerage ToS (paper trading is unrestricted)
- **Plaid** - Review data usage policies
- **WallStreetBets** - Community API, may have restrictions
---
## Competitive Advantages Gained
### vs Bloomberg Terminal
✅ **Free alternative to:** FRED (macro), Financial Modeling Prep (fundamentals), CoinGecko (crypto)
✅ **Unique access to:** WallStreetBets sentiment, Aletheia AI analysis
### vs Paid Data Providers
✅ **Free access to institutional data:** FRED, Econdb, Etherscan
✅ **Portfolio tools:** Portfolio Optimizer (academic-quality for free)
✅ **Paper trading:** Alpaca (free unlimited testing)
### vs Existing Free Sources
✅ **Better crypto coverage:** CoinGecko (13K+ coins) vs CryptoCompare (limited)
✅ **More macro data:** FRED (816K series) vs World Bank (limited series)
✅ **Trading development:** Alpaca (full brokerage) vs just data APIs
---
## Next Steps - Immediate Actions
1. **Start with FRED integration** - Highest impact, easiest integration
2. **Add CoinGecko** - Replace or supplement existing crypto sources
3. **Set up Alpaca paper trading** - Enable algo development
4. **Integrate Financial Modeling Prep** - Stock fundamental analysis
5. **Deploy Etherscan** - Essential for DeFi/Ethereum work
---
## Files Delivered
1. **NEW_DATA_SOURCES.md** (updated, 28,770 bytes)
- Now contains 60 total sources (20×3 rounds + 20 new)
- Organized by rounds and categories
- Integration priorities and roadmap
2. **RESEARCH_SUMMARY_ROUND4.md** (this file)
- Executive summary of Round 4
- Detailed integration guidance
- Use case mapping and priorities
---
## Success Metrics (Round 4)
✅ **Target:** 20 new sources → **Delivered:** 20
✅ **All sources have free tiers**
✅ **Zero duplicates from Rounds 1-3**
✅ **Critical institutional data:** FRED, Econdb, Alpaca, Intrinio
✅ **Best-in-class crypto:** CoinGecko (13,000+ coins)
✅ **Unique capabilities:** AI earnings analysis, portfolio optimization, Open Banking
✅ **Global coverage:** Econdb (40+ countries), Finage (emerging markets), India-specific sources
✅ **Trading development:** Alpaca paper trading platform
---
## Research Quality
- ✅ All sources verified with official documentation
- ✅ Rate limits confirmed from official docs
- ✅ Free tier availability confirmed
- ✅ Production readiness assessed
- ✅ Integration complexity evaluated
- ✅ Use cases mapped
- ✅ Competitive advantages documented
---
*Research completed by ResearchClaw subagent*
*Round 4 completed: 2026-02-25 03:12 UTC*
*Quality: Production-ready documentation*
*Ready for integration*
*No further rounds needed unless Yoni requests more*
