# Websockets: not able to retrieve market data

**URL:** <https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284>\
**Category:** Community Support\
**Created:** [March 25, 2022, 1:02pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284 "2022-03-25T13:02:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 1:02pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/1 "2022-03-25T13:02:05Z")

</div>

I am new to Tradovate and trying to retrieve market data using Python and the Websockets library via the API. Unfortunately, I keep getting the same error message and can’t find a solution even after a lot of research and reading the docs. I have a ToB subscription to the entire CME Group.

I’m using this request body:

```auto
body = {
    "symbol": "MES",
    "chartDescription": {
        "underlyingType": "MinuteBar",
        "elementSize": 1,
        "elementSizeUnit": "UnderlyingUnits",
        "withHistogram": False,
    },
    "timeRange": {
        "asMuchAsElements": 20
    }
}

```

Request:

```auto
ws.send(f"md/getChart\n{request_id}\n\n{json.dumps(body)}")

```

The printed string:

```auto
md/getChart
2

{"symbol": "MES", "chartDescription": {"underlyingType": "MinuteBar", "elementSize": 1, "elementSizeUnit": "UnderlyingUnits", "withHistogram": false}, "timeRange": {"asMuchAsElements": 20}}

```

Response:

```auto
a[{"s":200,"i":2,"d":{"errorText":"Symbol is inaccessible", "errorCode":"UnknownSymbol", "mode":"None"}}]

```

I also tried to send via an iterable.  
Request:

```auto
ws.send([
    "md/getChart",
    str(request_id),
    "",
    json.dumps(body)
])

```

Response:

```auto
a[{"s":400,"i":,"d":"Invalid JSON: missing required field \"symbol\", offset: 0x00000001"}]

```

What am I doing wrong?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alexander](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.tradovate.com/alexander/32/988_2.png) [@Alexander](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 1:14pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/2 "2022-03-25T13:14:43Z")

</div>

The `symbol` field is incorrect, you need to include a month code as well. For the nearest maturity use the `MESM2` symbol (for the contract period ending June 2022). This code will change at the maturity of each contract. We use the [CME group’s month code system](https://www.cmegroup.com/month-codes.html). MES in particular uses H, M, U, and Z codes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 1:47pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/3 "2022-03-25T13:47:38Z")

</div>

Thanks for the quick reply, @Alexander!  
Unfortunately, I also have exactly the same errors with the MESM2 symbol.

```auto
{"symbol": "MESM2", "chartDescription": {"underlyingType": "MinuteBar", "elementSize": 1, "elementSizeUnit": "UnderlyingUnits", "withHistogram": false}, "timeRange": {"asMuchAsElements": 20}}

```

```auto
a[{"s":200,"i":2,"d":{"errorText":"Symbol is inaccessible", "errorCode":"UnknownSymbol", "mode":"None"}}]

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alexander](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.tradovate.com/alexander/32/988_2.png) [@Alexander](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/4 "2022-03-25T15:37:05Z")

</div>

Can you tell me what endpoint you use to connect the WebSocket that you send this message through?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 10:09pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/5 "2022-03-25T22:09:57Z")

</div>

```auto
wss://md.tradovateapi.com/v1/websocket

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alexander](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.tradovate.com/alexander/32/988_2.png) [@Alexander](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 12:26pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/6 "2022-03-28T12:26:35Z")

</div>

And you definitely have an active market data subscription correct? How about just requesting ES data (use ESM2)? Just to know if you can get anything at all.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 12:57pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/7 "2022-03-28T12:57:12Z")

</div>

Yes, I have an active market data subscription.

Which symbol I use does not matter. It is always the same problem.

```auto
a[{"s":200,"i":2,"d":{"errorText":"Symbol is inaccessible","errorCode":"UnknownSymbol","mode":"None"}}]

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alexander](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.tradovate.com/alexander/32/988_2.png) [@Alexander](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 1:28pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/8 "2022-03-28T13:28:25Z")

</div>

Without divulging your personal information, could you show me how you are structuring your access token request?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/9 "2022-03-28T13:40:21Z")

</div>

I have generated a Python client using the OpenAPI specification. I can successfully authenticate and get an access token. With this I can also query my account data. The websocket connection also seems to be up and running as I can send and receive the heartbeat. Furthermore the opening of the websocket is confirmed with an `o` and an `a[{"s":200, "i":1}]`.

```auto
tradovate_client = TradovateClient(base_url=TRADOVATE_URL)

access_token_response = access_token_request.sync(
    client=tradovate_client,
    json_body=AccessTokenRequest(
        name=TRADOVATE_NAME,
        password=TRADOVATE_API_PW,
        app_id=TRADOVATE_APP_ID,
        app_version=APP_VERSION,
        device_id=TRADOVATE_API_DEVICE_ID,
        cid=TRADOVATE_API_CID,
        sec=TRADOVATE_API_SECRET
    )
)
access_token = access_token_response.access_token
authenticated_client = AuthenticatedClient(
    base_url=TRADOVATE_URL,
    token=access_token
)

account_list_response = account_list.sync(client=authenticated_client)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alexander](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.tradovate.com/alexander/32/988_2.png) [@Alexander](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/10 "2022-03-28T14:54:32Z")

</div>

Hmm that all looks OK. You are using your personal API Key and CID, your username and password, etc? And not like a demo key or something (like the one we have posted up on our API docs Accessing the API section, it works for some things but its highly restricted - it’s a teaser key so you can make test calls without investing in the API).

Next question if that is all OK, is where are you creating the WebSocket and calling the chart request from? Can I see some of that calling code? Are you using multiple sockets (one for market data, one for user data) or are you just using the single market data socket? You must use separate sockets if you want to use both Market Data and Real Time User Data protocols together.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 3:17pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/11 "2022-03-28T15:17:55Z")

</div>

Yes, I use my own API credentials. No demo data published anywhere. I have set and use an API password. I use only one websocket, through which I send the heartbeat and try to fetch the chart data.

Here is the code:

```auto
async def heartbeat(websocket):
    while True:
        await asyncio.sleep(2.5)
        await websocket.send('[]')

async def chart(websocket, request_id):
    while True:
        await asyncio.sleep(5)
        body = {
            "symbol": TRADOVATE_SYMBOL,
            "chartDescription": {
                "underlyingType": "MinuteBar",
                "elementSize": 1,
                "elementSizeUnit": "UnderlyingUnits",
                "withHistogram": False,
            },
            "timeRange": {
                "asMuchAsElements": 20
            }
        }
        await websocket.send(f"md/getChart\n{request_id}\n\n{json.dumps(body)}")

async def receive(websocket):
    while True:
        response = await websocket.recv()
        print(f"receive: {response}")

async def open_ws(access_token):
    request_id = 1
    async with websockets.connect(TRADOVATE_WEBSOCKET_URL) as websocket:

        receive_task = asyncio.create_task(receive(websocket), name='receive')

        await websocket.send(f"authorize\n{request_id}\n\n{access_token}")
        request_id += 1

        asyncio.create_task(heartbeat(websocket), name='heartbeat')

        asyncio.create_task(chart(websocket, request_id), name='chart')
        request_id += 1

        await asyncio.Future() # run forever

await open_ws(access_token)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alexander](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.tradovate.com/alexander/32/988_2.png) [@Alexander](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Alexander)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 5:35pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/12 "2022-03-28T17:35:24Z")

</div>

The only thing I can think of is that `TRADOVATE_SYMBOL` is being assigned to the wrong thing possibly? Can you log its value before the call?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 6:26pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/13 "2022-03-28T18:26:36Z")

</div>

I have already done that. In my 2nd answer is the output. And here again:

```auto
{"symbol": "MESM2", "chartDescription": {"underlyingType": "MinuteBar", "elementSize": 1, "elementSizeUnit": "UnderlyingUnits", "withHistogram": false}, "timeRange": {"asMuchAsElements": 20}}

```

And the response:

```auto
a[{"s":200,"i":2,"d":{"errorText":"Symbol is inaccessible","errorCode":"UnknownSymbol","mode":"None"}}]

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![beebee](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.tradovate.com/beebee/32/1776_2.png) [@beebee](https://community.tradovate.com/u/beebee)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/14 "2022-03-28T18:48:39Z")

</div>

> [@Ingo](#):
>
> use my own API credentials. No demo data published anywhere. I ha

You’re going to have trouble with this setup. Python native websocket client will choke when you try to send the heartbeat because it blocks the asyncio loop. You can try to put the heartbeat in another thread or run from futures but those all fail.

Use this websocket client: [websocket-client · PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/websocket-client/)

You can use a partial to create the callback functions to pass additional data, then you can create a thread specifically for the heartbeat and have that sleep close to the 2.5 seconds between iterations. That will leave your main thread to get the most work done.

Also with the above websocket-client, you can dump the raw data, with the flag, `websocket.enableTrace(True)`

It will help give you a true picture of what’s going on.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/15 "2022-04-01T13:45:18Z")

</div>

Thanks for the answer @beebee. I am relatively new to Python and websockets and have now tried around a bit, but still seem to have comprehension issues. Would you have some sample code on how to authenticate with Tradovate and then send some request? I can’t get any further at this point.

Thanks in advance!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![beebee](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.tradovate.com/beebee/32/1776_2.png) [@beebee](https://community.tradovate.com/u/beebee)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/16 "2022-04-02T17:39:18Z")

</div>

I am going to dump this here.

```python
import os
import sys
import uuid
import json
import orjson
import requests
import datetime
import websockets

import asyncio

from config import API_LIVE_URL
from config import API_DEMO_URL
from my_secrets import APP_ID, APP_VERSION, ACCOUNT, ACCOUNT_P, CID, CLIENT_SECRET, DEVICE_ID

def get_endpoint(endpoint, _data, DEMO, query=None):
    url = None
    json_response_data = None
    if(DEMO):
        __api_url = API_DEMO_URL
        print("__TV_API -- get_endpoint -- DEMO URL -- [{0}]".format(__api_url))
    else:
        __api_url = API_LIVE_URL
        print("__TV_API -- get_endpoint -- LIVE URL -- [{0}]".format(__api_url))

    if(query):
        url = "{0}/{1}/{2}".format(__api_url, endpoint, query)
    else:
        url = "{0}/{1}".format(__api_url, endpoint)

    head = { 'content-type':'application/json', 'accept':'application/json', }

    print("__TV_API -- get_endpoint -- header | {0}".format(head))
    print("__TV_API -- get_endpoint -- payload | {0}".format(_data))
    print("__TV_API -- get_endpoint -- url | {0}".format(url))

    p = requests.post(url, headers=head, data=_data)
    status = p.status_code
    if(status == 200):
        print("__TV_API -- get_endpoint -- status code 200 -- [{0}]".format(p.status_code))
        print("__TV_API -- get_endpoint -- status code 200 -- [{0}]".format(p.text))
        print("__TV_API -- get_endpoint -- status code 200 -- [{0}]".format(p.content))
        try:
            json_response_data = json.loads(p.text)
        except Exception as e:
            print("get_endpoint -- exception [{0}]\n[{1}]\n".format(str(e), p.text))
        return json_response_data

    else:
        print("get_endpoint -- status code {0} -- [{1}]".format(status, p.text))
        return json_response_data

def __get_access_token(DEMO):
    _filename = "./accessToken.py"
    diff = None
    accessToken = None
    mdAccessToken = None
    expirationTime = None

    _update_at = False
    _ = None
    package = None

    if(os.path.isfile(_filename) and not(os.stat(_filename).st_size==0)):
        time = None
        with open(_filename) as infile:
            package = json.load(infile)
        try:
            time = package['expirationTime']
        except Exception as e:
            print("__TV_API -- exception [{0}]\n".format(str(e)))
            time = None

        if(time == None):
            print("FILE EXCEPTION\nRE-CREATING FILE")
            _ = __authenticate(DEMO)
            package = _
            with open(_filename, "w") as outfile:
                json.dump(_, outfile)

            return package
        else:
            expirationTime = datetime.datetime.strptime(time, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%fZ")
            diff = (expirationTime - datetime.datetime.now()).total_seconds()
            if(diff <= 0.0):
                a = " __TV_API --__ get_access_token -- ACCESS TOKEN EXPIRED [{0}], UPDATE --\n[{1}]\n"
                a = a.format(diff, package['accessToken'])
                print(a)
                _ = __authenticate(DEMO)

                package = _
                with open(_filename, "w") as outfile:
                    json.dump(_, outfile)
            else:
                a = "__TV_API -- DO NOT create file -- YET | [{0}] - [{1}] - [{2}]\n"
                a = a.format(expirationTime, diff, _filename)
                print(a)
    else:
        a = "__TV_API -- create file -- | [{0}] - [{1}]\n"
        a = a.format(diff, _filename)
        print(a)
        _ = __authenticate(DEMO)
        package = _
        with open(_filename, "w") as outfile:
            json.dump(_, outfile)
        print(_)

    return package

def __authenticate(DEMO):
    print(" __TV_API --__ authenticate -- BEGIN\n")
    #"deviceId":"{}".format(str(uuid.getnode())),
    data = json.dumps({
                       "name":str(ACCOUNT),
                       "password":str(ACCOUNT_P),
                       "appId":str(APP_ID),
                       "appVersion":str(APP_VERSION),
                       "deviceId":str(DEVICE_ID),
                       "cid":int(CID),
                       "sec":str(CLIENT_SECRET)
                      })
 
    _ = get_endpoint("auth/accesstokenrequest", data, DEMO)
    print(" __TV_API --__ authenticate -- END [{0}]\n".format(_))
    return _

if __name__ == " __main__":
    _ = __get_access_token()
    token = _["accessToken"]
    print(token)

```

There are a few major sections…

If you are mainly going to do get/post requests the function `get_endpoint` will be helpful and it’s similar to the example javascript code.

Take note of how I create post request url, header and data to create a valid http post request.

The function \_\_get\_access\_token relies on get\_endpoint. get\_access\_token takes a variable DEMO to see if you’ll be making demo or live requests.

For simplicity sake, I have a file called accessToken in the same directory, this is similar to the storage mechanism in the javascript example. There are rate limits on the get\_access\_token endpoint and one access token is valid for about 4000 seconds.

The my\_secrets file is very important and should not be shared publicly, the contents are below.

```auto
APP_ID = "xxx"
APP_VERSION = "xxx"
ACCOUNT = "xxx"
ACCOUNT_P = "xxx"
CID = "xxx"
CLIENT_SECRET = "xxx"
DEVICE_ID = "xxx"

```

Focus on the get\_endpoint function to see how to create a http request with python’s requests module. Try to create simple http get and post requests. If they are still failing post what you have and the errors that you are getting and we can assist you further.

Best,

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/17 "2022-04-02T22:03:20Z")

</div>

Thanks a lot, I’ll give it a try!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2022, 9:44pm UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/18 "2022-04-03T21:44:31Z")

</div>

Hey @beebee,

I have already managed the authentication. I am currently only failing with the websockets. Do you have an example for that as well?

Thanks 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![beebee](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.tradovate.com/beebee/32/1776_2.png) [@beebee](https://community.tradovate.com/u/beebee)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/19 "2022-04-06T00:57:35Z")

</div>

Did you get the websockets setup? Can you share what you have so far?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ingo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@Ingo](https://community.tradovate.com/u/Ingo)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 6:37am UTC](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284/20 "2022-04-06T06:37:05Z")

</div>

Of course @beebee, I hope you can help me with this.

I have used the suggested library and have now tried around some more until I finally get a response from the websocket server. Unfortunately, it’s exactly the same as before. Here is the code:

```auto
import json
from threading import Thread
import websocket
import time

_ws = None
_request_id = 0
_access_token = None

def on_message(ws, message):
    print(message)

def on_error(ws, error):
    print(error)

def on_close(ws, close_status_code, close_msg):
    print("### closed ###")

def send(ws, endpoint, query=None, body=None):
    global _request_id
    _request_id += 1
    print(f"{endpoint}, {_request_id}, {query}, {body}")
    ws.send(f"{endpoint}\n{_request_id}\n{query}\n{body}")

def on_open(ws):
    print('### on_open ###')
    send(ws=ws, endpoint="authorize", body=_access_token)

def chart(*args):
    time.sleep(5)
    # send the message, then wait
    # so thread doesn't exit and socket
    # isn't closed
    print('### chart ###')
    body = {
        "symbol": TRADOVATE_SYMBOL,
        "chartDescription": {
            "underlyingType": "MinuteBar",
            "elementSize": 1,
            "elementSizeUnit": "UnderlyingUnits",
            "withHistogram": False,
        },
        "timeRange": {
            "asMuchAsElements": 20
        }
    }
    send(ws=_ws, endpoint="md/getChart", body=json.dumps(body))

if __name__ == " __main__":
    tradovate_auth()
    websocket.enableTrace(True)
    _ws = websocket.WebSocketApp(TRADOVATE_WEBSOCKET_URL,
                                 on_message=on_message,
                                 on_error=on_error,
                                 on_close=on_close,
                                 on_open=on_open)
    Thread(target=chart).start()
    _ws.run_forever()

```

`_access_token` and `_ws` are global.  
`tradovate_auth` performs authentication using the REST API and sets the global `_access_token`.

And here are the responses from the server:

```auto
o
a[{"s":200,"i":1}]
h
a[{"s":200,"i":2,"d":{"errorText":"Symbol is inaccessible","errorCode":"UnknownSymbol","mode":"None"}}]

```

There is a lot of debug information. Posting them here would be a bit much.

[Next page](https://community.tradovate.com/t/websockets-not-able-to-retrieve-market-data/4284.md?page=2)