What is OHLCV data?
OHLCV stands for Open, High, Low, Close, and Volume. These five data points capture the complete price action of a stock, ETF, or index for each trading day. OHLCV data is the foundation for technical analysis, backtesting trading strategies, and building financial models.
Free sources for historical stock price data
1. Yahoo Finance
The most widely used free source. Yahoo Finance covers stocks, ETFs, indices, currencies, and crypto. Data goes back decades for most US equities.
- Pros: Broad coverage, long history, free, no registration required
- Cons: No official API, manual downloads limited to OHLCV, occasional data gaps
2. Alpha Vantage
Provides a free API with daily, weekly, and monthly stock data. Requires a free API key and basic coding knowledge to access.
- Pros: Official API, JSON and CSV output, adjusted prices
- Cons: 25 requests/day on free tier, limited historical depth for some endpoints
3. FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)
Great for economic indicators, interest rates, and some market indices. Not a primary source for individual stock OHLCV data.
- Pros: Official government data, reliable, free API
- Cons: Limited to economic data and select indices, no individual stock prices
4. Stooq
Polish financial data provider with surprisingly good global stock coverage. Offers free CSV downloads without registration.
- Pros: Free bulk downloads, global coverage, no registration
- Cons: Interface not English-friendly, inconsistent data formatting
5. Tiingo
Offers a free tier with end-of-day stock prices and a clean REST API.
- Pros: Clean API, good documentation, reliable data
- Cons: Free tier limited to 500 requests/day, registration required
Comparison of free OHLCV data sources
| Source | API available | Registration | Rate limit | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yahoo Finance | Unofficial | No | Moderate | General use |
| Alpha Vantage | Yes | Yes (free) | 25/day | Developers |
| FRED | Yes | Yes (free) | Generous | Economic data |
| Stooq | No | No | None | Bulk downloads |
| Tiingo | Yes | Yes (free) | 500/day | Clean API access |
The simplest option for non-programmers
If you don't write code, most of these sources are hard to use. APIs require programming. Manual downloads are tedious and limited.
A browser extension like FinGrab bridges the gap. It lets you export OHLCV data directly from Yahoo Finance as CSV — no coding, no API keys, no registration. Just open a stock page and click export.
Beyond OHLCV, FinGrab also exports financial statements, key statistics, and dividend history — data types that most free APIs don't cover at all.
Get started
Need historical stock price data in CSV? Install FinGrab from the Chrome Web Store and download your first dataset in under two minutes.
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