CoinMarketCap
CoinMarketCap
REST and WebSocket API for crypto and DEX market data. Free Basic tier plus four paid tiers. A keyless public API with no signup also exists for quick tests, but its terms are Not stated, and because keyless calls share an IP-based rate pool, a call from a shared cloud IP can be refused straight away (we saw this when we tested); use a free key for anything real.
CoinMarketCap's Pro API serves crypto prices, market caps, rankings, exchange, global-metrics and DEX data as JSON from https://pro-api.coinmarketcap.com. The free Basic plan needs a free key, sent in the X-CMC_PRO_API_KEY header, and gives 15,000 call credits a month at 50 requests a minute. On Basic the pricing table lists historical quotes (1 year of daily, 1 month of intraday) but no OHLCV, latest or historical; OHLCV starts on Startup ($79/mo).
A credit is used per successful call, with more credits for larger result sets and extra currency conversions, and the status object in each response shows credit_count. CoinMarketCap's docs say a per-minute 429 clears after 60 seconds. Its Commercial Terms say a product that shows the data must carry the attribution "Data provided by CoinMarketCap.com" with a hyperlink.
Required Attribution:
"Data provided by CoinMarketCap.com", shown prominently with a hyperlink to coinmarketcap.com (as stated in the provider's Commercial Terms of Use)
Coverage
50M+ tokens and 941+ exchanges tracked; prices, volume, market cap, rankings, exchange, global-metrics and DEX/on-chain data. Free Basic: 1 year of daily historical quotes, 1 month of intraday quote history, data updated every 60 seconds; the pricing table shows no OHLCV (latest or historical) on Basic or Builder. Builder ($29/mo): 3 years of daily quotes. Startup ($79/mo) and above: daily history from 2010 and OHLCV (checked Oct 28, 2026).
Good for
- Show a live price, market cap and rank for chosen coins in a dashboard or alert script, with a free key
- Check your plan limits and credits with /v1/key/info (its docs say it has no credit cost) before you schedule polling jobs
- Prototype a rankings screen from the listings endpoint on the free Basic plan, and read the pricing table before you rely on history
Verdict
A usable free start for crypto prices, rankings and market caps: the free Basic key gives 15,000 call credits a month at 50 requests a minute, with 1 year of daily and 1 month of intraday historical quotes. No OHLCV on Basic (it starts at Startup, $79/mo). The free license is conditional, not a general grant: one product with up to 100k users, end users' personal, non-commercial use, and the attribution "Data provided by CoinMarketCap.com" with a hyperlink.
Endpoints
| Endpoint | Returns |
|---|---|
https://pro-api.coinmarketcap.com/v2/simple/price | Lightweight latest price by symbol, id or slug; available on Basic; the credit cost depends on how many assets and convert options you request |
https://pro-api.coinmarketcap.com/v1/cryptocurrency/listings/latest | Ranked list of active cryptocurrencies, the first request in CoinMarketCap's quick start; larger pages use more credits |
https://pro-api.coinmarketcap.com/v1/key/info | Your plan limits and usage; docs: no API credit cost, but it counts toward the per-minute limit |
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Use in your agent
Analyze a CoinMarketCap quote response in memory. Checked against the provider's documentation on Oct 29, 2026.
Access
- A Basic API key is required for this snippet. Put it in COINMARKETCAP_API_KEY.
- CoinMarketCap also runs a public API that needs no key; this skill uses the keyed Basic API.
Request
curl -H 'X-CMC_PRO_API_KEY: '$COINMARKETCAP_API_KEY 'https://pro-api.coinmarketcap.com/v2/cryptocurrency/quotes/latest?symbol=BTC,ETH&convert=USD'Format
JSON: status metadata plus data keyed by symbol; v2 can return a list for each symbol, and quote is keyed by conversion currency.
Load into pandas (in memory)
Needs Python 3 with requests and pandas. The provider's terms limit storage or leave it unclear, so this snippet does not write a file.
"""CoinMarketCap latest quotes -> pandas in memory. Check your plan before storage or display."""
import os
import requests
import pandas as pd
headers = {"X-CMC_PRO_API_KEY": os.environ["COINMARKETCAP_API_KEY"]}
params = {"symbol": "BTC,ETH", "convert": "USD"}
r = requests.get("https://pro-api.coinmarketcap.com/v2/cryptocurrency/quotes/latest",
headers=headers, params=params, timeout=30)
r.raise_for_status()
body = r.json()
rows = []
for symbol, assets in body["data"].items():
for asset in assets:
rows.append({"id": asset["id"], "symbol": symbol,
"price_usd": asset["quote"]["USD"]["price"],
"last_updated": asset["quote"]["USD"]["last_updated"]})
df = pd.DataFrame(rows)
df["last_updated"] = pd.to_datetime(df["last_updated"], utc=True)
print(len(df), "quotes; credits", body["status"].get("credit_count"))Needs a personal API key; not run.
Limits
- Basic: 15,000 call credits per month and 50 requests per minute.
- Endpoints consume call credits; one HTTP request need not equal one credit.
Quirks
- The snippet does not persist the response.
- Use the numeric id when a ticker symbol is ambiguous.
- The response status object reports credit_count.
Terms and attribution
- The API pricing table lists the free Basic plan's license as "Commercial use".
- CoinMarketCap's general site terms limit use to personal, non-commercial use unless a separate agreement applies, so read the API terms for your plan before you rely on either.
- API permissions, attribution, caching and display depend on the API agreement and plan; check them before persisting or publishing data.
Sources
- https://coinmarketcap.com/api/pricing/: “60+ 15,000 — Basic email Commercial use 1 50 requests per minute 60 seconds”
- https://coinmarketcap.com/api/pricing/: “Explore CoinMarketCap's API with our free plan by signing up, or just use our public API that doesn't require an API key.”
- https://coinmarketcap.com/terms/: “strictly for your personal, non-commercial use unless you enter into a separate agreement with us for your commercial use”
Information and education only. Not financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Listings can be inaccurate, incomplete or out of date and are provided "as is". Free tiers, limits and licenses belong to each provider and can change, so check the provider's own terms before you rely on them. Terms & Disclaimer