We are losing polygon data!? ;/

Are we really losing polygon data! :frowning:

1 Like

Looks like it based on the email I received from Alpaca. So now we’ll have to rework our code to make the switch over. Also looks like if you want more then 30 symbols in your websocket stream , will have to pay $49/month.

I’m just now investigating what the differences are going to be.

Not very nice giving us just 6 days to implement the change.

Also will have to look at relocating my server. I currently have it in the same datacenter as polygon in Secacus so was under 2ms away for my data feed. Need to understand where new feed is coming from to minimize my input timing

Why not just hold on to polygon data and pay the premium?

Alpaca is a start-up and should be focused on innovating where it has value and out-sourcing the rest. I’d be surprised if market data platforming is more ripe for innovation than the order-entry space that Alpaca has been currently up-ending. Seems like there’s still a lot of low-hanging fruit when it comes to order-entry & brokerage operations.

Considering this and the one-week heads up, it’s likely this decision is coming from Polygon. I’d be interested in know more.

I would consider , but at $200/month, not until my algos have proven themselves

2 Likes

can someone link the information on this? I’d be happy to pay $49 a month for polygon, it’s normally $200.

1 Like

The $49 / mo seems to be for Alpaca Pro plan. The info was in an email.

The email also says that there is a 100% off coupon (ALPACA) for March to Polygon to soften the blow and enable a transition.

What’s even worse, the old data source no longer works (at least the API command get_barset fails) and the new source is not yet available. Has the new API been deployed? Are there docs for it? I didn’t see any. So we won’t be able to trade next week?

From the email:

As of Feb 26, 2021 after market hours, you will no longer be able to use your current Polygon.io data feed via your Alpaca API key. However, Polygon.io will provide a 100% discount coupon for March to our users who are using Polygon.io data. You need to take action immediately to ensure you retain your access and will need to create an account on Polygon.io’ website.

Please use coupon code ALPACA during checkout on Polygon.io to claim your free month.

After your free month, you will be charged the regular price for Polygon.io. For the pricing details, please visit https://polygon.io/pricing.

We aim to make the transition as smooth as possible, therefore we will be sharing more information with you about the new features in the upcoming week along with tutorials and documentation.

They’re giving us a month of free Polygon usage, so there’s no reason you can’t continue trading. In the coming week they will give us more info about the new features.

The Alpaca api won’t support Polygon that means we need change our code to support data feed from Polygon directly? That seems like a lot of rework

This is very disappointing news. I had such high hopes for Alpaca. This just adds to a growing list of disappointments.

  • Missing Tax Forms
  • Missing Dividend Payments
  • Forcing margins.
  • Losing Polygon.io data

Etrade is not entirely free. You need to read the fine print. multiple trades in a day and over 30 trades a quarter and you start incurring fees.

However, TD Ameritrade has gone to Zero Commission and they have an API. I am going to start looking at that. I heard the API is difficult so we will see.

3 Likes

They say we can’t sign up for the new data source until Sat. Feb 27, and the old one ceases to work on Sun Feb 28. So there is ABSOLUTELY NO TIME to make the transition and test the new codes live while the old codes could still do the trading. How kind of them.

What I figured from that email is that you’ll need to pay $49/mo to Alpaca. What you’d pay for Polygon - which is $199/mo if you need a reasonable level of service - will be IN ADDITION to $49/mo.

The Alpaca API still supports Polygon, it’s just getting deprecated. The change is that Alpaca’s key will no longer work as a key for Polygon. All you have to do is use the “ALPACA” code for a free month of Polygon, then in your code replace your Alpaca key with your new Polygon key (I’ve already done this myself). That gives you a free month of data using the same API you’re used to, which should be plenty of time to switch over to Alpaca Pro for $49/month if you so choose.

Yes, I just signed up for Polygon ($199 version), obtained the key, and confirmed that it works as before. Just swap in the new key if you’ve been dragging from polygon already. Beware that the “enter code” field on the Polygon signup page, which will give you a free month at Polygon, is easy to overlook. Make sure you enter it before clicking either of the two offered completion buttons.

I used it the coupon code and they still didnt apply it.

If you’re using the python API (alpaca-trade-api-python) it looks like you just add the POLYGON_KEY_ID environment variable. The package tries to pull your POLYGON_KEY_ID env first if it exists:

def get_polygon_credentials(alpaca_key: str = None) -> str:
    try:
        alpaca_key, _, _ = get_credentials(alpaca_key, 'ignored')
    except ValueError:
        pass
    key_id = os.environ.get('POLYGON_KEY_ID') or alpaca_key
    if key_id is None:
        raise ValueError('Key ID must be given to access Polygon API'
                         ' (env: APCA_API_KEY_ID or POLYGON_KEY_ID)')
    return key_id

I asked about this, and Alpaca’s customer service implied that it will still work on March 1st:

It’s for a free month after signup. So if you signup 3/1, then it would be for March.

Does anyone know how to subscribe pro plan? I cannot seem to find it in the dashboard.

Another question: is there any benchmark done for comparing pro stream data vs. Polygon? Or any data difference itself? And where is the data center for Alpaca? For Polygon, looks like they are co-located with exchanges so it has low latency.

Final question, when will python api get updated? It still uses previous V1 data right now.

Many thanks!

2 Likes