AllTick API Plan Selection Guide: Choose Fast, Avoid Pitfalls
Learn how to choose the right AllTick API plan by comparing instrument limits, API request capacity, WebSocket connections, historical K-line data, and market coverage for quantitative trading and backtesting.
For quantitative traders, choosing a market data API plan means balancing instrument coverage, request limits, historical data needs, and cost. The right plan should support your current strategy without paying for capacity you do not need.
AllTick offers comprehensive API plans and specialized market plans. Understanding the differences helps you choose a suitable option for backtesting and real-time data collection.
Comprehensive Plans vs. Specialized Market Plans
Comprehensive plans include Free Trial, Basic, Premium, and Professional. They let you select products across supported market categories, with different product limits, API call limits, WebSocket connections, and historical data access.
Specialized market plans cover Hong Kong stocks, A-shares, or U.S. stocks. They are worth considering when your strategy requires broad coverage of one market rather than a selected list of instruments.
The key question is whether your strategy needs a defined watchlist or wider market coverage.
AllTick API Plan Comparison
| Plan | Products | API Calls/min | WebSocket Connections |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | 10 demo products | 10 | 1 |
| Basic | 100 | 60 | 1 |
| Premium | 200 | 600 | 3 |
| Professional | 3,000 | 1,200 | 10 |
Historical K-line access is listed as up to one year for Free Trial and Basic, three years for Premium, and five years for Professional.
These limits serve different purposes: product capacity determines how many instruments you can select, API call limits constrain request frequency, and WebSocket limits determine the number of simultaneous connections.
Check the AllTick pricing page for current plan details before subscribing.
How to Choose the Right Plan
1.Calculate Your Instrument Requirements
List the instruments your strategy needs for live trading, research, and backtesting.
For example, a strategy tracking 80 instruments fits within Basic's stated 100-product limit, provided the products count toward that limit as expected. A strategy requiring 150 instruments would need a higher-capacity plan or another suitable coverage option.
Allow some room for expansion, but avoid paying for full-market coverage if you only use a small watchlist.
2.Match API Limits to Your Workload
Product capacity does not equal request capacity.
If you request data for 80 instruments individually every minute, you would need 80 requests per minute, exceeding Basic's stated limit of 60. Batching may reduce the number of requests, depending on the endpoint and its supported parameters.
For continuous data updates, also check WebSocket connection limits and test the integration under your expected workload.
3.Check Historical Data Requirements
Backtesting across several years requires more historical data than testing a short period. Compare your strategy's testing window with each plan's historical K-line limits.
Also verify the availability of your required instruments and intervals. Historical depth alone does not guarantee reliable backtests; missing observations, inconsistent timestamps, and unrealistic execution costs can still distort results.
4.Decide Between Selected Products and Full-Market Coverage
A comprehensive plan is generally more suitable for strategies using a defined list of instruments. A specialized market plan may be a better fit for screening a broad universe of Hong Kong stocks, A-shares, or U.S. stocks.
Compare the actual coverage, historical data access, and applicable limits before deciding. Do not assume that a specialized plan automatically provides every feature available in a comprehensive plan.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Choosing by price alone: Check product and request limits alongside subscription cost.
- Confusing products with requests: A plan supporting 100 products does not guarantee unlimited updates for those products.
- Ignoring historical requirements: Confirm that the available data covers your intended backtesting period.
- Buying excess capacity too early: Upgrade when measured requirements justify it.
- Skipping integration tests: Verify data retrieval, timestamps, WebSocket reconnection, and performance under your own workload rather than assuming a particular latency or stability level.
Make Your Decision Based on Requirements
The right AllTick API plan should match your strategy's instrument universe, request frequency, connection needs, and historical data requirements.
Document these needs, compare them with the current plan limits, and test a representative workload before subscribing. Review the AllTick pricing plans to confirm the latest terms.