Best Free Sources of Historical Market Data (2026)
Plenty of places offer "free" historical data, but they differ wildly in coverage, depth and how painful they are to actually use. Here's a fair rundown of the main free options in 2026 and what each is good for.
Open the data downloader →What to look for
Judge a free source on five things: asset coverage (forex only, or stocks/crypto/indices too), history depth, whether tick data is available, timeframe granularity, and ease of access (download UI vs. scripting vs. signup). No single source wins on all five.
The main free options
- Dukascopy Bank — a deep, high-quality archive of forex, metals, indices, commodities and more, down to tick level. The official web export is powerful but clunky; the open-source dukascopy-node library (which powers MarketData Hub) makes it scriptable.
- HistData.com — free 1-minute and tick forex data, no signup, packaged as monthly ZIPs. Great for forex, but you stitch the files together yourself and it's forex-only.
- TrueFX — free tick-level forex data (registration required), strong for major pairs, more limited instrument list.
- Stooq — free daily (and some intraday) data across stocks, indices, forex and commodities; convenient CSV downloads, but limited intraday depth and no ticks.
- Yahoo Finance — free daily and limited intraday equity/index/crypto data, easy to pull via libraries; no tick data and intraday history is shallow.
- Exchange / broker APIs (e.g. crypto exchanges) — excellent for their own markets and recent history, but each is siloed and rate-limited.
Where MarketData Hub fits
MarketData Hub is a friendly interface over the Dukascopy archive via dukascopy-node: 265+ instruments across forex, crypto, indices, commodities, bonds, ETFs and shares, every timeframe from tick to monthly, exported as CSV or JSON with no signup to browse. The trade-off versus raw free dumps is that bulk downloads use inexpensive prepaid credits (a free account starts with one year), in exchange for one consistent UI, broad asset coverage and no file-stitching. See our data methodology for sourcing details.
Quick picks
- Forex tick data, no signup: HistData or Dukascopy (via this site).
- Daily multi-asset for a quick study: Stooq or Yahoo Finance.
- Deep, multi-asset, one consistent interface: MarketData Hub — start with EUR/USD or browse all instruments.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best free source of historical forex data?
- For depth and tick-level detail, Dukascopy Bank SA data is among the best — available with no signup to browse through MarketData Hub, or via HistData and TrueFX for forex-only ZIP/tick downloads. The right pick depends on whether you need ticks, multiple asset classes, or just daily candles.
- Is free historical data good enough for serious backtesting?
- Yes, if it is accurate and granular enough for your strategy. Tick and 1-minute forex data from Dukascopy is widely used for retail and quantitative backtesting; daily data from Stooq or Yahoo is fine for longer-horizon studies.
- Where can I get free tick data?
- Dukascopy (via MarketData Hub or dukascopy-node), HistData and TrueFX all offer free forex tick data. Tick history generally starts later than daily candles and the files are large, so download only the date range you need.
- Which free source covers the most asset classes?
- MarketData Hub and Stooq are the broadest free multi-asset options. MarketData Hub covers forex, crypto, indices, commodities, bonds, ETFs and shares at tick-to-monthly granularity; Stooq covers many markets at mostly daily granularity.