General Questions

What is Cardano Price API?

The Cardano Price API is a comprehensive REST API that provides access to historical and real-time price data from the Cardano blockchain. It follows the TradingView Brokerage Integration specification, making it compatible with popular trading and charting tools while offering specialized features for Cardano DeFi data.

What does Cardano Price API do?

The API provides several key functionalities:

• Historical Price Data: Access OHLCV (Open, High, Low, Close, Volume) data for any token pair across Cardano DEXs
• Real-time Streaming: Subscribe to live trading events and price updates for specific pools
• Multi-DEX Coverage: Tracks over 17,000 pools across multiple Cardano DEXs including Minswap, SundaeSwap, and others
• Aggregate Data: Provides weighted average prices across all Cardano pools for more accurate market representation
• TVL Information: Total Value Locked data for comprehensive pool analysis
• Token Metadata: Access to token logos and current price information

What does Cardano Price API do to address the challenges of working in web3?

The API addresses several key web3 development challenges:

Data Fragmentation: Instead of querying multiple DEXs individually, developers get unified access to all Cardano trading data through a single endpoint.

Complex Data Processing: Raw blockchain data is processed and normalized into standard financial formats (OHLCV), eliminating the need for developers to handle complex on-chain calculations.

Real-time Requirements: Provides streaming capabilities for live price feeds without requiring developers to maintain their own blockchain indexing infrastructure.

Integration Complexity: Uses the widely-adopted TradingView API specification, enabling seamless integration with existing financial tools and charting libraries.

Scalability Issues: Handles the complexity of tracking 17,000+ pools while providing optimized endpoints to reduce payload sizes and improve performance.

Technical Questions

Why should developers use Cardano Price API?

Rapid Development: Get production-ready price data without building blockchain indexing infrastructure from scratch.

Comprehensive Coverage: Access data from all major Cardano DEXs through a single API, ensuring you don’t miss important trading activity.

Industry Standards: Built on TradingView’s proven API specification, making integration with existing financial tools straightforward.

Flexible Data Resolution: Support for multiple timeframes (1min, 5min, 15min, 60min, 1d) to meet different application needs.

Real-time Capabilities: Stream live trading events for responsive applications and trading bots.

Aggregate Intelligence: Get market-wide price data that reflects true token values across the entire Cardano ecosystem.

How is Cardano Price API different from other web3 service providers?

Cardano-Native: Purpose-built for Cardano’s unique architecture and UTXO model, unlike generic blockchain APIs.

Aggregate Pricing: Offers unique aggregate price calculation across all pools, providing more accurate market prices than single-DEX solutions.

TradingView Compatibility: Direct integration with popular trading platforms and charting tools through standard API specification.

Pool-Level Granularity: Access individual pool data while also providing ecosystem-wide aggregates.

Streaming Architecture: Built-in real-time streaming capabilities rather than polling-based updates.

DEX-Agnostic: Comprehensive coverage across all major Cardano DEXs rather than being limited to specific protocols.

What blockchains/networks does Cardano Price API support?

Currently, the API focuses exclusively on Cardano mainnet, providing comprehensive coverage of the Cardano DeFi ecosystem including:

• Minswap (V1 and V2)
• SundaeSwap
• WingRiders
• MuesliSwap
• VyFinance
• And other Cardano-based DEXs

This focused approach allows for deep integration with Cardano’s unique features and optimal performance for Cardano-specific use cases.

Usage Questions

How do I get started with the API?

1. Get Available Groups: Start by fetching the list of available DEX groups
2. Fetch Symbol Information: Get available trading pairs for each DEX
3. Request Historical Data: Use the /history endpoint for OHLCV data
4. Stream Real-time Data: Subscribe to live updates via the /tokens/stream endpoint

What data resolutions are available?

The API supports multiple timeframe resolutions:

• 1min - 1 minute intervals
• 5min - 5 minute intervals
• 15min - 15 minute intervals
• 60min - 1 hour intervals
• 1d - Daily intervals

How does aggregate pricing work?

Aggregate pricing combines data from all pools trading a specific token pair across the entire Cardano ecosystem. Token reserves from each pool are summed together and treated as if they were in a single large pool, creating a weighted average that better represents the true market price.

Can I get current/live prices?

Yes, the API provides several ways to access current data:

• /tokens/current endpoint for instant current prices
• /tokens/stream endpoint for real-time streaming updates
• Recent historical data from the /history endpoint

Is there rate limiting or usage restrictions?

The API uses bearer token authentication. Specific rate limits and usage tiers should be confirmed with the service provider. The streaming endpoint allows only one connection per user to ensure optimal performance.

How do I identify specific tokens or pools?

Tokens are identified using their policy ID concatenated with the policy name (hex encoded).

The API provides multiple ways to find relevant pools:

• Search by human-readable names (e.g., “ADA.SNEK”)
• Filter by specific DEX groups
• Use the aggregate group for ecosystem-wide data

What happens when there’s no trading activity?

The API only returns bars for time segments with actual trading volume. If no trading occurred in a specific time interval, empty arrays are returned rather than zero-volume bars (unless specifically configured otherwise).