Collectors · Finance & crypto

Exchange rate API in Python

Foreign-exchange rates from ECB reference data — one row per target currency. One POST from Python with the input, rows back as JSON with 6 fields, $0.0002 per delivered rate. No proxies or parsers to maintain.

Get an API key See the collector

A Python requests snippet that posts { — A Python requests call to the exchange_rates collector returns one dict per rate, at $0.0002 each.

First call

Install, call, read the rows.

pip install requests

The only dependency.

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/exchange_rates/run",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "base": "USD",
        "max_results": 40,
    },
    timeout=120,
)
r.raise_for_status()
run = r.json()["payload"]
print(run["count"], "rows,", run["cost"]["usd"], "USD")
for row in run["results"]:
    print(row.get("currency"), row.get("rate"), row.get("base"), row.get("date"))

Python: one Exchange rates (Frankfurter/ECB) run (USD verso tutte), printing currency, rate, base, date

The key comes from an environment variable, never from the code. The run answers in the same request when it finishes in time; payload.results holds the rows and payload.cost what they cost.

Request parameters

What the collector takes.

Input of the Exchange rates (Frankfurter/ECB) collector
Parameter	Type	Required	Meaning
`base`	string	no (default USD)	Base currency (3-letter, default USD).
`symbols`	array	no	Currencies to convert to (empty = all available).
`date`	string	no	Historical date YYYY-MM-DD (omit for latest).
`max_results`	integer	no (default 40)	How many currencies to deliver at most (1–50). You pay only for delivered currencies.

Response fields

6 fields per rate.

Fields of each row (rate)
Field	Type	What it holds
`rank`	integer	1-based position.
`currency`	string	Target currency code.
`rate`	number	Rate from base to this currency.
`base`	string, nullable	Base currency.
`date`	string, nullable	Reference date.
`inverse_rate`	number, nullable	1 unit of the target currency expressed in the base currency.

Add ?format=csv to the runs endpoint to get the same rows as CSV.

Long runs

Run in the background, then poll.

A run that needs more time can go to the background: send "async": true, get 202 with the run id, and poll the runs endpoint until the status is done. Reading a run is free.

import os, time, requests

H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"}
r = requests.post("https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/exchange_rates/run", headers=H,
                  json={**{"base":"USD","max_results":40}, "async": True}, timeout=30)
run_id = r.json()["payload"]["run_id"]
while True:
    run = requests.get(f"https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/runs/{run_id}", headers=H, timeout=30).json()["payload"]
    if run["status"] in ("done", "failed"):
        break
    time.sleep(5)
print(run["status"], run["count"])

Python: background run and polling

Errors

What can come back, and what is billed.

Collector run errors
Status	Meaning	Billed
`400`	The input does not match the collector (`payload.errors`)	No
`401`	Missing or wrong API key	No
`402`	Balance and free credit do not cover the run: top up	No
`422`	The input can never resolve; retrying the same input cannot help	No
`424`	The run failed at the source (blocked, timed out, layout changed); safe to retry	No
`429`	Rate limit or a per-account brake; wait for `Retry-After`	No

Only delivered rows are billed: a run that delivers nothing costs nothing.

Price

$0.0002 per delivered rate.

What Exchange rates (Frankfurter/ECB) rows cost at list price
Rows	Cost
1	$0.0002
1,000	$0.20
10,000	$2.00

Up to 50 rates per run; split larger jobs into several runs. The $2 free credit every month covers about 10,000 rates. No subscription; paid tiers lower the unit price. All collector prices: collector pricing.

Before you run it

Questions developers ask

Is there a free Exchange rates (Frankfurter/ECB) API?

Every account gets $2 of free usage each month, about 10,000 rates of this collector at $0.0002 each, with no card.

Do I have to handle proxies, retries or blocks?

No. The collector runs on our network and handles them; a run blocked at the source returns 424 and is not billed.

How many rows can one run return?

Up to 50 rates per run (the max_results input, where the collector has one).

Can an AI agent run it?

Yes: the MCP server exposes it as the run_collector tool, with the same input and price. See the MCP server.

Run it on the free credit.

Create an API key, export it as QD_API_KEY and run the example. $0.0002 per delivered rate, no subscription.

Get an API key Exchange rate API