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How do I get the history for a stock not in my universe?

I want to get the history of a stock that is not part of my trading portfolio, how do I get the prices for the last 10 minutes of the stock?

3 responses

You can do something like this:

def initialize(context):

    context.my_portfolio = symbols("MSFT", "AMZN", "CSCO")  
    context.aapl = symbol('AAPL')

def handle_data(context, data):  
    aapl_prices = history(10, '1m', 'price')[context.aapl]  

By default, history() will return a pandas dataframe. The columns are all the securities in your algo and the rows are each bar (minute or day, depending on the frequency you set).

If you want to get the history for a specific stock, you have to index into it to retrieve those values. You can also use the built-in debugger to test your syntax and slice/dice the data.

Cheers,
Alisa

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Perfect thanks Alisa! Incidentally can I store any variable via context.NameOfVariable?

Yup! "context" is used to save state for the variable: https://www.quantopian.com/help#ide-api

Disclaimer

The material on this website is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation or endorsement for any security or strategy, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advisory services by Quantopian. In addition, the material offers no opinion with respect to the suitability of any security or specific investment. No information contained herein should be regarded as a suggestion to engage in or refrain from any investment-related course of action as none of Quantopian nor any of its affiliates is undertaking to provide investment advice, act as an adviser to any plan or entity subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, individual retirement account or individual retirement annuity, or give advice in a fiduciary capacity with respect to the materials presented herein. If you are an individual retirement or other investor, contact your financial advisor or other fiduciary unrelated to Quantopian about whether any given investment idea, strategy, product or service described herein may be appropriate for your circumstances. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Quantopian makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the views expressed in the website. The views are subject to change, and may have become unreliable for various reasons, including changes in market conditions or economic circumstances.