# IQFeed

Tick-by-tick data into a local Windows socket, with exchange fees billed on top.

*https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/iqfeed · Stock Market Data APIs*

## Facts

### At a glance

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Vendor | DTN |
| Category | Stock Market Data APIs |
| Job | realtime |
| Website | https://www.iqfeed.net |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Free tier | false |
| Open source | false |
| Licence | none |
| Self-hosted | false |
| Tested hands-on | false |
| Last updated | 2026-09-14 |

### Pricing

| Tier | USD | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| IQFeed Core Service | 108.15 USD | month |
| IQFeed Forex Only | 50.47 USD | month |
| RT US Futures and Futures Options | 24.87 USD | month |
| RT Equity Options | 60.9 USD | month |
| RT International Exchanges | 36.75 USD | month |
| Level II / market depth | 20 USD | month |
| API developer licence | on request | year |

### Coverage

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Asset classes | stocks, options, futures, forex, indices, mutual_funds, commodities |
| Markets | us, ca, uk, eu, asia, au, latam |
| Works outside the US | true |
| Data latency | realtime |
| Platforms | desktop_win |
| AI features | none |

### Interfaces

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| API | true |
| Webhooks | false |
| Scripting | none |
| Python | false |
| Spreadsheet add-in | true |
| MCP server | false |
| Export | api |

### Capabilities

Yes: scanning, news

No: charting, screening, backtesting, automation, live_trading, paper_trading, portfolio_tracking, broker_import, tax_reporting, alerts, options_analysis

*Verified: pricing 2026-09-14; coverage 2026-09-14; capabilities 2026-09-14.*

## What it is

IQFeed is DTN's consolidated market data feed, sold on its own terms rather than as a perk
attached to a broker. It is the feed underneath a long list of desktop platforms —
[Sierra Chart](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/sierra-chart), [MultiCharts](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/multicharts),
[AmiBroker](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/amibroker), [NinjaTrader](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/ninjatrader),
[MotiveWave](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/motivewave) and [Optuma](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/optuma) all connect to it — and it is bought
for what those platforms do not supply: unfiltered tick-by-tick data rather than snapshots, and a
history archive deep enough to backtest against.

Mechanically it is not a web API. You install `IQConnect.exe`, a native Windows program, launch it
with your login, password, product ID and app version, then open TCP sockets to it on localhost —
one for Level 1 streaming, one for history and lookups, one for market depth, one for admin.
Commands are comma-delimited text under a versioned protocol, 6.2 current and 4.9
the oldest still served.

## Pricing

Published, itemised, and larger than the headline. The core service is **$108.15 a month** plus a
one-time $50 startup fee, which buys the plumbing and delayed data. Every real-time exchange bills
its own fee on top, non-refundable once switched on — including during the seven-day trial, for
exchanges that grant no trial entitlement.

Worked totals for a non-professional, from the fee schedule dated 1 December 2025:

- **US equities** — core plus NYSE, Nasdaq and NYSE American at $7.35 each: **$130.20/month**.
- **Equity options** — core plus the $60.90 real-time options surcharge plus OPRA at $7.35:
  **$176.40/month**.
- **CME futures** — core plus the $24.87 US futures surcharge plus CME at $139.57:
  **$272.59/month**. CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX are $139.57 each as well, and those rates are identical
  for professionals.

The futures line has an escape hatch. CME's non-professional Globex package cuts the four CME
Group exchanges to $2.10 each, or $5.25 for all four at Level 1 — about $138 a month all in — but
it needs a fully funded futures account at a broker on DTN's qualified list, software that can
route orders to that broker, and a No to all thirteen professional-status questions. Without a
broker willing to verify the account, the rate is $139.57.

The professional test is separate and applied at signup: register with a name, address or email
tied to a trading company, or appear in FINRA's database or an SEC, CFTC or equivalent registry,
and equity exchanges bill professional rates — Nasdaq goes from $7.35 to $31.50, Nasdaq Level II
from $63 to $401, OTC Markets Level 1 from $13 to $55. NYSE, NYSE American and OPRA quote
professionals at $5.25 "plus fee from exchange", so the professional total for US equities cannot
be worked out from the published page at all.

## Data & coverage

180 calendar days of tick history with microsecond timestamps where the exchange supplies them;
11+ years of one-minute OHLCV — US stocks, futures and indexes from May 2007, eminis from
September 2005, forex from February 2005, London stocks and FTSE indexes from February 2016; and
daily, weekly and monthly bars back to 1929 for indexes, 1959 for US futures and 1994 for US
stocks. Daily requests are back-adjusted for splits; ticks and interval bars are not.

Equities cover the US, Canada (TSX and TSX Venture) and the UK (LSE); everything else is
derivatives — CME Group, ICE, Eurex, Euronext, SGX, ASX24, Bursa Malaysia and BM&F Bovespa, each
an entitlement bought separately. Alongside the prices: 700-plus breadth and statistics symbols,
most updating every second, US fundamentals, and streaming news from Benzinga Pro, RTTnews, PR Newswire
and Business Wire. A basic subscription watches 500 symbols at once, 2,500 for extra.

## Integrations

The compatible desktop platforms are the normal way in. Writing your own client is a separate
transaction: the API is an annual licence agreement, signed and returned to DTN, priced only on
request, and explicitly not included in the data subscription. The protocol is language-agnostic,
but there is no first-party Python package — `pyiqfeed` and the other wrappers are third-party.
Excel and OpenOffice Calc link through built-in DDE, Windows-only. A ProphetX mobile add-on covers
iOS and Android, with different futures symbology and no market depth.

## Limitations

- **The base price is not the price.** Exchange fees are per exchange, per month, non-refundable
  once entitled, and can exceed the subscription itself — CME alone is more than the core service.
- **Windows only.** No native macOS or Linux build and no plans for one; DTN's answer is CrossOver,
  Wine or a VM, and it will not troubleshoot inside them.
- **One machine at a time.** A second computer, or the mobile app, disconnects the first; a
  separate test environment means a second login ID at full price.
- **Tick history is capped at 8 days during regular trading hours.** The full 180 days is only
  retrievable outside 9:30–16:00, which shapes when a backfill job can run.
- **No REST, no JSON, no hosted endpoint.** A local Windows process is a hard dependency for
  every deployment, including servers, and historical requests are capped at 50 per second.
- The seven-day trial is throttled to 4 days of intraday history and 365 days of daily bars, so
  it does not test the thing most buyers are paying for.

## Alternatives

[Databento](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/databento) for the same tick-level ambition over HTTP and raw TCP with no
Windows dependency, billed per gigabyte. [Massive](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/massive) if a hosted REST API on a flat
subscription matters more than sub-second latency. For history alone, [Kibot](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/kibot),
[FirstRate Data](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/firstrate-data), [AlgoSeek](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/algoseek) and
[Norgate Data](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/norgate-data) sell files and skip the exchange-fee stack entirely.

Compare it against the rest of the [market data APIs](https://stockmarketstack.com/categories/market-data-apis).

## FAQ

### What does IQFeed actually cost per month?

The core service is $108.15 a month plus a one-time $50 startup fee, and every real-time exchange bills its own fee on top. A non-professional watching US equities pays $7.35 each for NYSE, Nasdaq and NYSE American, so $130.20 a month all in. Adding real-time equity options is a $60.90 surcharge plus $7.35 for OPRA. CME futures are $139.57 a month unless you qualify for the non-professional Globex package.

### Does IQFeed require a brokerage account?

Not for the service itself — you sign up directly with DTN, pay by card on the first of each month, and no broker is involved. A funded futures account with a qualifying broker is required only for the discounted CME Globex non-professional data package, which also requires software that can place orders through that broker.

### Is IQFeed a REST API?

No. IQFeed is a native Windows client, IQConnect.exe, that you launch with your login and then talk to over TCP sockets on localhost — one port for Level 1 streaming, another for history and lookups, another for market depth. Any language that can open a socket works; there is no HTTP endpoint and no hosted API.

### Does IQFeed run on macOS or Linux?

There is no native build and DTN says it has no plans for one. The supported route is a Windows compatibility layer or a virtual machine — DTN's own documentation recommends CrossOver and keeps legacy Wine instructions, and warns that problems inside those tools are beyond what its support can troubleshoot.

### How far back does IQFeed history go?

180 calendar days of ticks, 11+ years of one-minute bars (US stocks, futures and indexes from May 2007, eminis from September 2005, forex from February 2005) and up to 80+ years of daily bars — US stocks from 1994, US futures from 1959, indexes from 1929. During regular trading hours tick requests are capped at the last 8 days.

## Also worth comparing

- [Alpaca Market Data](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/alpaca-market-data.md) — Free IEX data forever, full SIP and OPRA for a flat $99 a month.
- [Finnhub](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/finnhub.md) — Real-time US quotes and a live trade stream on a free key. OHLC candles are not free.
- [Massive](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/massive.md) — Full-tick US equities, options and futures from a direct exchange feed.
- [Twelve Data](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/twelve-data.md) — Global stocks, forex and crypto over REST and WebSocket, billed in credits per minute.
- [Barchart OnDemand](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/barchart-ondemand.md) — Seventy-odd REST endpoints covering equities, options and physical commodities.
- [AlgoSeek](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/algoseek.md) — Lossless SIP, OPRA and CME tick history with published per-asset-class lease pricing.