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Market Data Overview

Market data providers are a distinct category from DeFi execution protocols. They provide price discovery, charting, and coin search without requiring wallet connections or executing transactions.

Why a Separate Category?​

DeFi protocols (1inch, LiFi, Wormhole, Stargate) exist to execute transactions. Market data providers exist to answer questions:

  • What is the current price of ETH?
  • What was BTC's price 30 days ago?
  • How does the price of this token compare to yesterday?

While 1inch provides price data as a side effect of its DEX aggregation, CoinPaprika, CoinGecko, and DexScreener are purpose-built for market data. They cover far more assets (56K+ vs ~10K) and are chain-agnostic.

Providers​

ProviderCoverageData TypeRate LimitsStatus
1inch~10K tokensReal-time DEX (on-chain)Generous✅ Implemented
CoinPaprika56K+ coinsMarket aggregated (100+ exchanges)25K req/month free✅ Implemented
CoinGecko~13K coinsMarket aggregatedFree tier / Proℹ️ Not yet implemented
DexScreenerOn-chain pairsReal-time DEX (pair-based)Rate limitedℹ️ Not yet implemented

The --protocol Flag​

The price and chart alias commands accept a --protocol flag to select which provider to use:

price BTC --protocol coinpaprika
price ETH --protocol 1inch
chart BTC --protocol coinpaprika
chart WBTC --protocol 1inch

Priority Order for price​

When you run price <symbol> without a --protocol flag, the system tries providers in this order:

  1. Explicit --protocol flag — if specified, use that provider exclusively.
  2. Active protocol context — if you've run use coinpaprika, use CoinPaprika.
  3. User preference — saved preference for the price command.
  4. Default: 1inch — chain-specific DEX price data.
  5. Fallback: CoinPaprika — if 1inch doesn't have the token, try CoinPaprika.
# Uses 1inch (default)
price ETH

# Uses CoinPaprika explicitly
price BTC --protocol coinpaprika

# Uses CoinPaprika (1inch doesn't have this token; falls back automatically)
price DOGE

Priority Order for chart​

The chart alias routes based on both the --protocol flag and whether the symbol is a built-in chart type:

# Built-in charts (always available, no provider needed)
chart performance
chart network
chart portfolio

# Token charts — routed by --protocol flag
chart WBTC --protocol 1inch       # DEX price chart
chart BTC --protocol coinpaprika  # Market aggregated OHLCV
chart ETH --protocol coingecko    # CoinGecko data (when implemented)
chart TOKEN/SOL --protocol dexscreener  # On-chain pair data (when implemented)

When to Use Which Provider​

Use 1inch when:​

  • Getting DEX prices for tokens actively traded on-chain.
  • You need real-time on-chain liquidity data.
  • The token is on Ethereum mainnet or a major EVM chain.

Use CoinPaprika when:​

  • Looking up any coin from 56K+ options.
  • Getting market aggregated prices (multi-exchange average).
  • Checking coins not available on 1inch (e.g., Solana ecosystem tokens).
  • Viewing 30-day OHLCV chart history.

Use CoinGecko when (once implemented):​

  • You prefer CoinGecko's specific coin ID system.
  • You need CoinGecko-specific metadata (categories, tags, social data).

Use DexScreener when (once implemented):​

  • Looking up a specific trading pair on a DEX.
  • You have a token contract address and want real on-chain pair data.
  • Analyzing a newly listed token not yet in CoinPaprika.

Provider-Specific Commands​

Each provider has its own native commands in addition to the shared price and chart aliases:

ProviderNative Commands
CoinPaprikacprice <symbol>, coinsearch <query>, cchart <symbol>
1inchprice (default), chart (default for DEX charts)
CoinGecko(when implemented)
DexScreener(when implemented)

See the individual provider pages for command details and examples.