Physical Prices API Support

Visit our Physical Prices API technical documentation page for technical documentation and to test out the API

Access and login to the Physical Prices technical documentation page

A key part of the data solutions provided by Fastmarkets are the various REST APIs designed to provide data in a flexible, performant and secure way. For data license customers, these APIs are ideal for retrieving and processing Fastmarkets data by their own services.

Those buying, selling and trading commodities require absolute clarity in the prices they use. Our pricing data is backed by transparent methodologies, with verified and auditable processes, that bring true value to our clients.



The Fastmarkets Physical Prices API provides access to our physical metals and mining prices, averages and historical data. You can find the latest list of prices included (depending on your access) below:



Data Licence Packages –

– Base Metals

– Steel

– Steel Raw Materials

– Scrap and secondary

– Ores & Alloys

– Minor Metals

– Industrial Minerals



Click here to download a list of prices and symbols for each Fastmarkets Data Licence Package



Click here for pricing information



Click here for Fastmarkets Methodologies



What types of data can I retrieve using the Physical Prices API? Instrument data – This data contains details of the instruments on which price assessments are based. This includes properties such as its description, commodity classification, location, currency, incoterms, pricing frequency amongst others.



Price data – Price data can be for one or many instruments and includes the low, mid and high values of the latest assessment available or for a specified date. Other available properties include a pricing rational description and values indicating the change since the previous assessment.



Prices history data – Price data can also be requested by specifying a date range. This will return a time series of prices for a specified instrument or instruments.



Reference data – Data such as all available currencies, units of measure and incoterms can also be requested.



 Do you have a pricing schedule so I can understand when to request the prices I need in a timely manner?

Pricing may be assessed by Fastmarkets on varying schedules from daily, twice weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly. The latest pricing is available via the Fastmarkets Physical Prices API as soon as it is assessed and published.



We are not able to provide an exact schedule for every single price and there is no set day of the week for pricing to update (customer gave an example e.g. the third Thursday of the month for Monthly prices)



Our methodology documents provide the specifics for each price and can be found here –



Click here for Fastmarkets Methodologies



You can request the frequency for each price this can be done via the Instruments endpoint. However, this does not give the specifics of which day of the month, week etc.



Our prices in buckets by time zones (Asia & Iron Ore pricing around 11:00-12:00 London time, European prices 16:00-17:00 and US prices by 23:59 London). We recommend requesting several times a day to cover this for daily data which is the most frequent update for prices.



What should I consider as end-of-day?

We consider 23:59 London time as a closing point for the day.



 How are price corrections or revisions handled via the Physical Prices API?

Fastmarkets will rectify and republish any incorrectly published price as soon as possible. In the rare event that correction has occurred, the affected price data will include an updated Revision value along with the revised price. If no revision has occurred, this value would be 0 (zero). For each revision, this numeric value will increment by one. Prices will be corrected and updated via the API. Please review our Corrections policy at the bottom of the Fastmarkets Methodology page:



Click here for Fastmarkets Methodologies



What is the source of your currency conversion? How frequently do your FX rates update?

Our currency conversion uses foreign exchange rates provided by a range of suppliers for current and historical pricing. Daily rates on current pricing are provided by Morningstar and updated intraday on an hourly basis until 23:00 UTC.



Historical prices are converted using the conversion rate for the day the price was originally assessed, which is provided by different foreign exchange rate providers.







How can I understand when prices are added or removed?

A Pricing Notice is issued for all methodology changes, price launches, price discontinuations and corrections. There is also a “Status” field in the Instruments endpoint to denote if a price is Active or Discontinued. After 30 days prices will be no longer be available via the API at which point an error response will be returned. Error responses for the API can be found in the User Guide or model section of each Endpoint in the Swagger UI.



A list of symbols contained in Fastmarkets price packages can be found above.







Where can I find specific methodology for your price assessments?

Our methodology documents provide the specifics for each price and can be found here – https://www.fastmarkets.com/methodology



Can I get exchange pricing via the API?

The Physical Prices API delivers our metals and mining prices. For exchange data feeds please reach out to your Account Manager for further information.

How do I access the API?

Customers of Fastmarkets data will typically have their own services that will consume and process data. As such, authentication based on a single user’s credentials are not appropriate. Instead, a unique Service Key and Service Name is issued by Fastmarkets which can be used when calling the Fastmarkets Authentication API to generate an Access Token. The returned Access Token (in the form of a JSON Web Token) is then needed for any subsequent calls to other Fastmarkets APIs (such as the Fastmarkets Physical Prices API) to verify that the calling service has the necessary permissions to view the requested data.



For more information, please refer to the Physical Prices API User Guide above.



Full technical documentation is provided through our Swagger UI which requires a named technical user access. Details of your username and password will be sent in a welcome email. Once received you can click the top right Authorize button to login in – https://api.fastmarkets.com/physical/v2/documentation/index.html



Once authorized you can:

• Test requests and responses for each EndpointFind example values, field descriptions and API response modelsDiscover error messages for each Endpoint
 Where can I find details of the API Service Name and Service Key?

You will receive a welcome email with details of your username and password as a technical user of the API which will provide access to the API Swagger UI to test requests and responses. To access and authenticate to our API we will provide an auto-generated service name and a service key. Your service name and key can then be used in applications such as Postman to authenticate and generate an access token to then call our Physical Prices API from your system.



 How many technical users can have access to the Swagger UI?

At least 1 technical user is required to manage the service key(s). However, we understand that many of our customers require several technical or third party technical users to test requests and responses during implementation as well as regular maintenance of our API which may require support by several team members in different locations. Please request any additional technical users through our Customer Success team – customersuccess@fastmarkets.com



Should any of your technical users change or leave please notify us.



 Will my service name and service key change or be interrupted when our contract renews?

No, the service name and service key will remain the same at renewal. There is no need to amend any authentication to the API.



 How do I regenerate the service key?

Should you require your service key to be regenerated for security or other reasons please contact our Customer Success Team at customersuccess@fastmarkets.com. Please note that the API will be unavailable until the new key is entered into your system.



 Another business area requires access to Fastmarkets pricing via the API. Can we implement using the same service name and key?

Service keys should not be shared when implementing across different business teams or divisions for security and licensing reasons. Please contact your Account Manager or Customer Success team who can provide a separate service name and key as required.



Do you have a test environment?

We do not have a separate test environment for the Physical Prices API. Instead, we recommend testing the request and response using our Swagger UI before connecting using your service key to the production version of the API. This will require a named user access and is available to all technical users of the API. Should you require a separate test service name and key please request via our Customer Success team customersuccess@fastmarkets.com.



 Do you have any example requests?



Please see the links below for example request in JSON, C#, Java and Python.



Access the Fastmarkets Physical Prices API User Guide JSON version here



Access the Fastmarkets Physical Prices API User Guide C# version here



Access the Fastmarkets Physical Prices API User Guide Java version here



Access the Fastmarkets Physical Prices API User Guide Python version here



 What limitations are there on the number of queries that can be made?

It is possible to request large sets of data via the Physical Prices API by specifying multiple symbols and date ranges. However, there are limits on what can be requested in a single API request. These are described as follows:



GET/Prices



Max Symbols: 100



Max Dates: 10 (if requesting latest prices there is no date limit)



GET Prices/History



Max Symbols: 100



Max Date Range: 2 years



Please note that historical time series will vary between symbols depending on launch date. To determine the start of the time series please refer to the “firstDate” field which can be requested in the GET/Instruments or GET/Prices end points.



 How would I find further technical information?

Our technical documentation page provides detailed technical information about the Physical Prices API. This includes:



– Endpoint and parameter description

– Example requests and responses

– Model information with detailed descriptions of the response objects

– Example error codes and messages



Access & login to the Physical Prices API technical documentation page

If you have a question about the Physical Prices API or would like to have a personalized demo, please contact our customer success team.



customersuccess@fastmarkets.com



EMEA +44 (0)20 3855 5581 | Asia +65 3163 3458 | Americas +1 708 329 2641