Fetch Quotes — Free-First Data Source

Primary data source: yfinance (free, no account, no API key). Automatic upgrade to local MT5 terminal when it is running and logged in. Pick this when you need OHLCV bars or a current quote for any symbol and don't want to maintain credentials.

Invocation

/tradecraft:fetch-quotes <SYMBOL> [TIMEFRAME] [BARS] [SOURCE] [CHART]

# Examples
/tradecraft:fetch-quotes XAUUSD                  # defaults: H1, 200 bars, auto
/tradecraft:fetch-quotes US30 H4
/tradecraft:fetch-quotes EURUSD M15 100 free
/tradecraft:fetch-quotes BTCUSD D1 300 auto chart

• <SYMBOL> — e.g. XAUUSD, US30, EURUSD, BTCUSD. Broker suffixes (XAUUSDm, US30.cash) are normalized automatically.
• [TIMEFRAME] — M1 M5 M15 M30 H1 H4 D1 W1. Default H1. (H4 via --source free is resampled from yfinance 1-hour bars.)
• [BARS] — number of bars to return. Default 200.
• [SOURCE] — auto (default), free (yfinance only), mt5 (MT5 only, fails if unavailable).
• [CHART] — pass chart or a PNG path to render a line chart.

What Claude Should Execute

First-time setup (free path only):

pip install -r "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/requirements.txt"

Optional, Windows only, for broker-exact pricing:

pip install MetaTrader5

Then, per invocation, shell out to the fetcher:

python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/fetch_quotes.py" \
  --symbol <SYMBOL> \
  --timeframe <TIMEFRAME> \
  --bars <BARS> \
  --source <SOURCE> \
  [--chart <path.png>]

The script writes JSON to stdout. Parse it; if source == "yfinance", remind the user that prices may be ~15 min delayed for indices and futures.

Output Contract

{
  "source": "yfinance | mt5",
  "symbol": "XAUUSD",
  "broker_symbol": "XAUUSDm | GC=F",
  "timeframe": "H1",
  "bars": [
    {"time": "2026-04-23T10:00:00+00:00",
     "open": 2340.1, "high": 2343.5, "low": 2339.8, "close": 2342.7,
     "volume": 1234}
  ],
  "latest": {
    "bid": 2342.70, "ask": 2342.85, "spread": 0.15,
    "time": "2026-04-23T10:58:12+00:00"
  },
  "point_value": 0.01,
  "note": "Only present on yfinance path - explains delay and missing L1 depth.",
  "chart_path": "out.png"
}

• source tells you which feed answered. Always check it before reporting a price.
• broker_symbol is the actual ticker the feed used after symbol normalization — helpful when a user's broker uses a suffix.
• spread = 0 on yfinance because Yahoo gives no L1 depth. Don't treat that as real spread.
• Times are ISO-8601 UTC (+00:00).

Source Cascade

Symbol Mapping (canonical → yfinance ticker, MT5 variants tried)

Unmapped symbols are forwarded verbatim to both feeds — handy for less common instruments, but verify the ticker on the vendor side.

Known Limits of the Free Path

• Delay — Yahoo indices and futures are typically ~15 min delayed. FX and crypto quotes are close to real-time.
• No L1 depth — bid == ask == close. Don't trust spread from this source.
• Gold quoted as `GC=F` (COMEX continuous front-month futures). For FX-spot XAUUSD use --source mt5 or override the mapping.
• H4 is resampled from 1-hour bars when on yfinance — calendar-aligned 4h buckets, not the broker's session-aligned H4 candles.
• Rate limits — Yahoo throttles heavy polling. For monitoring loops, cache at the bar-close boundary.

Skip Conditions

• --source mt5 but no terminal running → returns error JSON with exit code 2. Do not fall through silently; surface the error so the user can decide.
• Symbol not resolvable on either side → exit code 4. Check the spelling and whether the broker quote differs.

Worked Examples

Gold, auto source, default bars

python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/fetch_quotes.py" --symbol XAUUSD --timeframe H1 --bars 50
# -> source: "mt5" if terminal is up, otherwise "yfinance" (GC=F)

US30, free only

python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/fetch_quotes.py" --symbol US30 --timeframe H4 --bars 120 --source free
# -> source: "yfinance", broker_symbol: "^DJI"

Gold with chart

python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/fetch_quotes.py" --symbol XAUUSD --timeframe H1 --bars 200 --chart /tmp/gold-h1.png
# -> writes /tmp/gold-h1.png; response JSON carries "chart_path"

Claude can then read the PNG with its vision capability for visual pattern analysis (same pattern used by mt5-chart-browser).

See Also

• pair-analyze — the generic combination that calls fetch-quotes as Step 0
• analyze-gold / analyze-us30 — pre-configured wrappers that go through this skill for data
• mt5-integration — deeper MT5 integration guide (broker-exact only)
• mt5-chart-browser — read PNG charts once they are generated
• xtrading-analyze — full multi-agent scan (assumes a more elaborate local pipeline)