Coinlayer API

Beginner's Pick Cryptocurrency / API Key Intermediate HTTPS
Varies by plan (check documentation)

Overview

Coinlayer delivers real-time and historical exchange rates for over 385 cryptocurrencies, sourced from major exchanges and updated every 60 seconds on paid plans. You request rates in a target fiat currency (USD, EUR, GBP, etc.) and get back a snapshot of all coin prices in one lightweight JSON payload. It is commonly used for portfolio trackers, price alert systems, and crypto payment processors.

Beginner Tip

The free plan only returns rates in USD and limits requests to once per hour. If you need EUR or other currencies, use the `target` query parameter — but this requires a paid plan. Test with USD first to confirm your integration works before upgrading.

Available Data

coin price in USD/EUR
market capitalization
24h price change
trading volume
circulating supply

Example Response

JSON Response
{
  "id": "bitcoin",
  "symbol": "btc",
  "current_price": 65432.1,
  "market_cap": 1280000000000,
  "price_change_24h": 1250.5,
  "price_change_percentage_24h": 1.95,
  "total_volume": 28500000000
}

Field Reference

success True if the request succeeded; false if an error occurred (check the `error` object).
timestamp Unix timestamp indicating when the rates were last updated.
target The fiat currency all rates are expressed in (e.g., "USD").
rates Key-value pairs where each key is a coin symbol (e.g., "BTC") and the value is its current price in the target currency.
rates.BTC Current Bitcoin price in the target currency as a floating-point number.

Implementation Example

Request
const url = "https://coinlayer.com/";
// Replace headers or query params with the values required by this API.
const response = await fetch(url, {
  headers: {
  "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

101 No API Key Found The `access_key` query parameter is absent or misspelled.
Append `?access_key=YOUR_KEY` to every request URL — Coinlayer uses query-string auth, not headers.
105 Https Access Restricted The free plan does not support HTTPS; only paid plans allow secure connections.
Either upgrade to a paid plan or use `http://` for local testing (not recommended for production).
201 Invalid target currency The `target` currency code is not recognized or is unavailable on your plan.
Use one of the supported fiat codes listed in the `/list` endpoint response and confirm your plan includes that currency.

Metadata Score Breakdown

Estimated from metadata — endpoint not independently tested

This score is estimated from observable metadata — HTTPS support, authentication model, declared CORS, and documentation reachability — because the API requires authentication or exposes no publicly testable endpoint. The five-signal breakdown is only shown for live-tested APIs.

Metadata estimate · endpoint not independently tested

Technical Specifications

Auth API Key
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category Cryptocurrency
Difficulty Intermediate
Verified: 2026-04-04

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