Metals API
A REST API for metals prices: live spot, decades of history, and the exchange data most providers do not carry. JSON over HTTPS, authenticated with a bearer token, no SDK and no client library to install. The free tier gives live prices for every metal we track with no card required.
Generating a client or pointing an agent at it? The machine-readable OpenAPI 3.0 specification covers all 56 endpoints with request and response schemas.
One request, every metal
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer mc_live_YOUR_KEY" \ "https://api.metalcharts.org/v1/prices"
Spot for every tracked metal comes back in a single response with bid, ask, 24-hour change, high and low. A dashboard showing five metals makes one call, not five.
Coverage and history depth
These are the counts the API returns, not what happens to sit in the database. Each metal has its own page with worked examples.
| Metal | Symbol | Daily bars | Back to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Price API | XAU | 14,425 | October 1966 |
| Silver Price API | XAG | 14,488 | October 1966 |
| Platinum Price API | XPT | 5,798 | January 2005 |
| Palladium Price API | XPD | 5,799 | January 2005 |
| Copper Price API | HG | 9,776 | July 1988 |
Aluminium, nickel, zinc, lead and tin are also covered, alongside crypto, ETFs, indices, energy and agricultural commodities, and foreign exchange. Call /v1/instruments for the full catalogue of 1,100 plus instruments, which is free on every plan.
Exchange data other APIs do not carry
Anyone can resell a spot price. The reason to use this API is what sits behind it.
- •COMEX. Registered and eligible warehouse stocks, volume and open interest, and daily delivery notices by firm with month and year to date totals.
- •LBMA. London vault holdings and clearing statistics, the monthly series the market actually watches.
- •Shanghai. SGE benchmark fixings, vault inventory and contract trading, plus SHFE settlement and warehouse stocks.
- •India. MCX futures and the Indian premium over Western pricing.
- •Guangzhou. Registered warehouse receipts for lithium carbonate, industrial silicon and polysilicon, per warehouse, published only in Chinese at source.
- •CFTC. Commitments of Traders positioning by category, weekly.
How the limits work
Rate limiting is by weight per minute rather than a monthly request quota, so a burst is fine as long as the sustained rate is not. Most endpoints cost 1 weight, historical data costs 2 and news search costs 3.
Free allows 10 weight a minute and 1,000 a month, which is roughly 33 requests a day.
Every response carries X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining and X-RateLimit-Reset so you can meter yourself instead of discovering a limit by being refused.
Common questions
Is there a free metals price API?
Yes. The free tier gives live spot prices for every metal we track, plus currency conversion and market status, with one key and 1,000 weight a month. No card is needed. Most competitors put a comparable free tier behind a 100-request monthly quota, so this is several times larger and covers far more metals.
Can I use the API commercially?
Yes, on every plan including Free. You can build a product on the data, sell that product, and serve your own customers with a single key. There is no separate commercial licence and no cap on end users. The one thing not permitted is reselling access to the API itself or republishing the raw data as a competing feed.
What metals does the API cover?
Gold, silver, platinum, palladium and copper as the core, plus aluminium, nickel, zinc, lead and tin. Beyond metals there is crypto, ETFs, indices, energy and agricultural commodities, and foreign exchange.
How is the API rate limited?
By weight per minute rather than a monthly request quota. Most endpoints cost 1 weight, historical data costs 2, and news search costs 3. Every response carries X-RateLimit headers so you can meter yourself instead of discovering a limit by being refused.
What makes this different from other metals APIs?
Exchange data that generally is not resold: COMEX warehouse stocks and delivery notices, LBMA vault holdings, Shanghai and Indian premiums, CFTC positioning, and Guangzhou warehouse receipts for lithium carbonate, industrial silicon and polysilicon that are published only in Chinese.
Do you offer historical data downloads?
History comes through the same API rather than as bulk files. /v1/history returns up to 5,000 candles per request across daily, weekly, monthly and seven intraday intervals.