Who CoinMarketCap is
CoinMarketCap has tracked crypto prices since 2013, and Binance acquired it in 2020. It ranks coins and tokens by market capitalisation, publishes quotes and history for centralised exchanges and DEX tokens, and runs its own indices, such as the CMC Fear & Greed Index. It states that it runs as an independent business, with published listing criteria and supply calculation methods.
Its professional API, launched in 2018, gives other platforms the same rankings, quotes and history. That is why it is one of the crypto data sources our market data module connects to.
What it does in your platform
Market data
Supplies latest quotes, market capitalisation and OHLCV history for the coins you list. The module checks them against your other sources and publishes one price per asset to your apps, charts and risk checks.
How the connection works
One connector in the market data module calls CoinMarketCap's Pro API from the server. CoinMarketCap blocks calls from browsers to protect the key, so the key stays in the platform's secrets and your apps read prices from the platform.
IDs, not tickers
The module maps each asset to its permanent CoinMarketCap ID. Tickers collide and change with rebrands; the IDs never change.
Quotes are fetched
Latest quotes for your asset list come from the quotes endpoint, many coins in one request.
History fills the charts
OHLCV history backs the candles, and historical quotes back longer price series.
Live updates
Where faster updates matter, CoinMarketCap's WebSocket pushes the latest prices for the coins you follow.
Prices are checked
The module filters bad ticks and compares CoinMarketCap with your other sources before one price per asset goes out.
Gaps are flagged
If updates stop, prices fail over to the next source, and an asset with no fresh price is flagged instead of showing a stale number.
Next to other providers
CoinMarketCap works as a main source or as a second opinion. The module pairs it with Kaiko, CoinGecko or exchange feeds, chooses which source leads asset by asset, and fails over when one goes quiet. Where your own order books are liquid, their prices lead.
Your apps read prices from the module, not from CoinMarketCap. Adding another source, or replacing CoinMarketCap later, is a configuration change, not an app release.
When CoinMarketCap fits best
A strong fit when
- You want the market capitalisation rankings many crypto users already check.
- You need stable asset identifiers that survive rebrands and ticker changes.
- You list both large coins and DEX tokens and want one vendor for both.
Also worth a look
- Kaiko, when you need reference rates built for valuation and reporting.
- CoinGecko, another aggregator in the module, as a second source for the same coins.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your CoinMarketCap account and contract in place, covering the assets and live data your platform needs.
The asset map
We map your asset list to CoinMarketCap IDs with you and choose, for each asset, which source leads.
The keys
The API key goes into your platform's secrets and nowhere else, and every call to CoinMarketCap comes from the server.
A full test run
The feed runs in staging against your asset list, with the filters and failover on, before any price reaches a customer.
