Stock Market Data API: Selection Checklist

Core Takeaway · 30-Second Brief

When evaluating a stock market data API, first confirm that your target exchanges and ticker symbols are covered, then verify required data types (trade ticks, order book depth, K-lines) and protocols (REST vs WebSocket), and finally audit rate limits, historical bar depth, and redistribution licensing. Comparing price or latency only makes sense once those fundamentals are met.

Six Essential Evaluation Dimensions

Dimension	Key Question to Ask	Common Pitfall
Market Coverage	Does it cover the exact HK, US, or A-share symbols we need?	Trusting "global coverage" claims without checking specific tickers
Data Types	Do we need latest trade ticks, Level 1/2 order book depth, or K-lines?	Treating trade ticks and bid/ask quotes as interchangeable
Protocol Mode	Is REST polling sufficient, or do we require WebSocket streaming?	Using WebSockets everywhere and increasing operational overhead
Rate & Quotas	What are the QPS limits, batch symbol caps, and concurrent connection limits?	Discovering rate limiting only during load testing or production launch
Historical Depth	How many historical bars are available per timeframe across plan tiers?	Assuming the highest tier historical depth applies to all plans
Data Licensing	Can data be displayed to end users, redistributed, or persisted long-term?	Overlooking display and redistribution terms before launch

Prioritizing by Use Case

Market Display Apps: Prioritize symbol coverage, stream stability, and end-user display licensing.
Quantitative Backtesting: Prioritize historical K-line depth, corporate action adjustments, and gap handling.
Risk & Alerting Monitors: Prioritize push latency, reconnection recovery time, and alerting reliability.
Internal Reporting: Scheduled REST polling is usually sufficient; focus on quota stability and cost.

A single engineering team often supports multiple workloads. Document each workload as a separate checklist row rather than searching for a single "fastest, broadest, and cheapest" provider.

Copyable Pre-Integration Checklist

1List all target exchanges and ticker symbols and verify each in the provider symbol catalog.

2Specify required data feeds per symbol: trade ticks, order book depth, and K-line intervals.

3Estimate peak request rates and concurrent subscriptions against plan tier limits.

4Confirm maximum historical K-line bars per request and total lookback window.

5Verify timestamp units (seconds vs milliseconds) and timezone conventions.

6Confirm whether terms permit end-user display and long-term database storage.

7Run a live proof-of-concept request using a free or trial token and archive sample responses.

Mapping This Checklist to AllTick

AllTick provides unified REST and WebSocket interfaces covering forex, equities (HK and US stocks), precious metals, commodities, and global indices. Review our Coverage Guide to verify ticker formats, then check the Plans page for rate quotas and historical bar limits.

Sources & Verification · 2026-10-13

Relevant endpoint, field, and exchange rules were checked against the primary specifications linked below.

Authenticated AllTick requests and production end-to-end tests were not run for this review. Record your token plan, library versions, market session, ret/trace, and observed results when reproducing these checks.

Primary specifications

Reproduce before deployment

Test one supported symbol from each required market and compare requested versus returned symbols. HTTP success does not prove that every symbol was accepted.
Measure median and p95 receive delay in the deployment region during an open session; record the token plan and clock synchronization. Separately confirm storage and redistribution rights.