TradingAgents/docs/api/dataflows.md

Data Flows API Reference

This document describes the data vendor abstraction layer and available data sources.

Overview

TradingAgents uses a vendor-agnostic interface for data access, allowing seamless switching between data providers.

Location: tradingagents/dataflows/

Configuration

Setting Data Vendors

from tradingagents.dataflows.config import set_config

config = {
    "data_vendors": {
        "core_stock_apis": "yfinance",
        "technical_indicators": "yfinance",
        "fundamental_data": "alpha_vantage",
        "news_data": "alpha_vantage"
    }
}

set_config(config)

Getting Current Configuration

from tradingagents.dataflows.config import get_config

config = get_config()
print(config["data_vendors"])

Data Vendors

yfinance

Location: tradingagents/dataflows/yfinance.py

Capabilities:

• Stock prices (OHLCV)
• Technical indicators
• Basic company information

Setup: No API key required

Rate Limits: None (public data)

Example:

from tradingagents.dataflows.yfinance import (
    yfinance_get_stock_data,
    yfinance_get_indicators
)

# Get stock data
data = yfinance_get_stock_data("NVDA", "2024-01-01", "2024-12-31")

# Get indicators
indicators = yfinance_get_indicators("NVDA", ["MACD", "RSI"])

Alpha Vantage

Location: tradingagents/dataflows/alpha_vantage.py

Capabilities:

• Fundamental data
• Company financials
• News articles
• Economic indicators

Setup:

export ALPHA_VANTAGE_API_KEY=your_key_here

Rate Limits: 60 requests/minute for TradingAgents users

Example:

from tradingagents.dataflows.alpha_vantage import (
    alphavantage_get_fundamentals,
    alphavantage_get_news
)

# Get fundamentals
fundamentals = alphavantage_get_fundamentals("NVDA")

# Get news
news = alphavantage_get_news("NVDA", "2024-01-15")

Google News

Location: tradingagents/dataflows/google.py

Capabilities:

• Real-time news articles
• Global news search

Setup:

export GOOGLE_API_KEY=your_key_here  # Optional for basic usage

Example:

from tradingagents.dataflows.google import google_get_news

news = google_get_news("NVDA", "2024-01-15")

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)

Location: tradingagents/dataflows/fred.py and tradingagents/dataflows/fred_common.py

Capabilities:

• Interest rates (Federal Funds Rate)
• Treasury rates (2Y, 5Y, 10Y, 30Y yields)
• Money supply (M1, M2 monetary aggregates)
• GDP (nominal and real growth data)
• Inflation (CPI and PCE price indexes)
• Unemployment rate

Setup:

export FRED_API_KEY=your_key_here

Rate Limits: 120 requests per minute with built-in retry logic and exponential backoff (1-2-4s delays)

Features:

• Local file caching with 24-hour TTL to reduce API quota consumption
• Retry logic with exponential backoff for transient failures
• Custom exceptions (FredRateLimitError, FredInvalidSeriesError) for robust error handling
• Date range filtering with flexible date format support
• All functions return pandas DataFrames with 'date' and 'value' columns

Example:

from tradingagents.dataflows.fred import (
    get_interest_rates,
    get_treasury_rates,
    get_gdp,
    get_inflation,
    get_unemployment,
    get_money_supply,
    get_fred_series
)

# Get Federal Funds Rate
fed_funds = get_interest_rates()

# Get 10-year treasury yield with date range
treasury_10y = get_treasury_rates(
    maturity='10Y',
    start_date='2024-01-01',
    end_date='2024-12-31'
)

# Get real GDP data
gdp_data = get_gdp(series_type='real')

# Get unemployment rate
unemployment = get_unemployment()

# Get inflation (CPI)
inflation = get_inflation(inflation_type='CPI')

# Get M2 money supply
m2 = get_money_supply(money_measure='M2')

# Get any FRED series by ID
custom_series = get_fred_series('UNRATE')  # Also returns unemployment

# Disable caching for real-time data
live_data = get_interest_rates(use_cache=False)

Available Functions:

• get_interest_rates() - Federal Funds Rate
• get_treasury_rates(maturity='10Y') - Treasury yields (2Y, 5Y, 10Y, 30Y)
• get_money_supply(money_measure='M1') - M1 or M2 monetary aggregates
• get_gdp(series_type='real') - Real or nominal GDP
• get_inflation(inflation_type='CPI') - CPI or PCE inflation
• get_unemployment() - Unemployment rate
• get_fred_series(series_id) - Generic series access by FRED ID

Error Handling:

from tradingagents.dataflows.fred_common import (
    FredRateLimitError,
    FredInvalidSeriesError
)

try:
    data = get_interest_rates()
except FredRateLimitError as e:
    print(f"Rate limit hit. Retry after {e.retry_after}s")
except FredInvalidSeriesError as e:
    print(f"Invalid FRED series: {e.series_id}")

Local Cache

Location: tradingagents/dataflows/local.py

Capabilities:

• Offline backtesting
• Pre-downloaded data access

Setup: Place data files in data_cache_dir

Example:

from tradingagents.dataflows.local import local_get_stock_data

data = local_get_stock_data("NVDA", "2024-01-01", "2024-12-31")

Interface Layer

Location: tradingagents/dataflows/interface.py

Unified Data Access

The interface layer provides vendor-agnostic functions:

from tradingagents.dataflows.interface import (
    get_stock_data,
    get_indicators,
    get_fundamentals,
    get_news
)

Automatic Routing

Based on configuration, requests are automatically routed:

# Config says: "core_stock_apis": "yfinance"
data = get_stock_data("NVDA", "2024-01-01", "2024-12-31")
# Automatically calls yfinance_get_stock_data()

Data Schemas

Stock Data (OHLCV)

{
    "ticker": "NVDA",
    "dates": ["2024-01-01", "2024-01-02", ...],
    "open": [150.0, 151.2, ...],
    "high": [152.5, 153.0, ...],
    "low": [149.8, 150.5, ...],
    "close": [151.0, 152.0, ...],
    "volume": [1000000, 1200000, ...],
    "adj_close": [151.0, 152.0, ...]  # Optional
}

Technical Indicators

{
    "MACD": {
        "macd": [0.5, 0.6, ...],
        "signal": [0.4, 0.5, ...],
        "histogram": [0.1, 0.1, ...]
    },
    "RSI": {
        "rsi": [65.0, 67.5, ...]
    },
    "BollingerBands": {
        "upper": [155.0, 156.0, ...],
        "middle": [150.0, 151.0, ...],
        "lower": [145.0, 146.0, ...]
    }
}

Fundamental Data

{
    "Symbol": "NVDA",
    "MarketCapitalization": 2800000000000,
    "PERatio": 35.2,
    "PEGRatio": 1.8,
    "BookValue": 25.50,
    "DividendYield": 0.005,
    "EPS": 4.25,
    "ProfitMargin": 0.25,
    "OperatingMarginTTM": 0.30,
    "ReturnOnAssetsTTM": 0.22,
    "ReturnOnEquityTTM": 0.45,
    "RevenueTTM": 60000000000,
    "GrossProfitTTM": 45000000000
}

News Data

{
    "ticker": "NVDA",
    "date": "2024-01-15",
    "articles": [
        {
            "title": "Company Announces Record Earnings",
            "source": "Reuters",
            "url": "https://...",
            "published_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
            "sentiment": 0.8,  # -1 to 1
            "summary": "Full article summary...",
            "authors": ["John Doe"],
            "time_published": "20240115T103000"
        },
        ...
    ]
}

Error Handling

VendorError

Base exception for data vendor errors:

from tradingagents.dataflows.exceptions import VendorError

try:
    data = get_stock_data("INVALID", "2024-01-01", "2024-12-31")
except VendorError as e:
    print(f"Vendor error: {e}")

RateLimitError

Raised when API rate limits are exceeded:

from tradingagents.dataflows.exceptions import RateLimitError

try:
    data = get_fundamentals("NVDA")
except RateLimitError as e:
    print(f"Rate limit hit. Retry after {e.retry_after}s")
    time.sleep(e.retry_after)

DataUnavailableError

Raised when requested data is not available:

from tradingagents.dataflows.exceptions import DataUnavailableError

try:
    data = get_stock_data("NVDA", "1900-01-01", "1900-12-31")
except DataUnavailableError:
    print("Historical data not available for this date range")

Caching

Cache Configuration

config = {
    "data_cache_dir": "./dataflows/data_cache",
    "cache_ttl": {
        "stock_data": 3600,  # 1 hour
        "fundamentals": 86400,  # 1 day
        "news": 3600  # 1 hour
    }
}

Cache Functions

from tradingagents.dataflows.cache import (
    get_cached,
    save_cache,
    clear_cache
)

# Get from cache
cached_data = get_cached("nvda_stock_2024")

# Save to cache
save_cache("nvda_stock_2024", data, ttl=3600)

# Clear cache
clear_cache()

Best Practices

1. Use Configuration: Don't hardcode vendors
2. Handle Errors: Implement retry logic for rate limits
3. Cache Data: Avoid redundant API calls
4. Validate Inputs: Check ticker symbols and dates
5. Use Fallbacks: Have backup vendors configured

Examples

Basic Data Retrieval

from tradingagents.dataflows.interface import get_stock_data

data = get_stock_data("NVDA", "2024-01-01", "2024-12-31")
print(f"Close prices: {data['close']}")

Multiple Indicators

from tradingagents.dataflows.interface import get_indicators

indicators = get_indicators("NVDA", ["MACD", "RSI", "BollingerBands"])
print(f"RSI: {indicators['RSI']['rsi'][-1]}")

With Error Handling

from tradingagents.dataflows.interface import get_news
from tradingagents.dataflows.exceptions import VendorError
import time

def get_news_with_retry(ticker, date, max_retries=3):
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            return get_news(ticker, date)
        except VendorError as e:
            if attempt < max_retries - 1:
                time.sleep(2 ** attempt)
            else:
                raise

See Also

• Data Flow Architecture
• Configuration Guide
• Adding Data Vendor Guide