# Bitfinex API vs Bitstamp API

> Bitfinex scores 58.4 (C) to Bitstamp's 50.4 (D) for exchange market data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-bitstamp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-bitstamp.md (~3,750 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-04

Bitfinex API scores 58.4 (C) on agent readiness against Bitstamp API's 50.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do exchange market data.

- Bitfinex API: grade C, 58.4/100, rank #675 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bitfinex.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bitfinex.json
- Bitstamp API: grade D, 50.4/100, rank #942 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bitstamp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bitstamp.json
- Best crypto exchange APIs and MCP servers for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/crypto-exchanges/index.md
- All 210 exchanges comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crypto-exchanges/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Bitfinex API (C)

Good for: An agent trading spot, margin or derivatives, or lending on the funding market, with scoped keys, official clients and paper trading.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 63
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 41 against 28

Watch for: No official MCP server, OpenAPI file or AsyncAPI file; the registry's Bitfinex servers are third parties proxying public market data

### Bitstamp API (D)

Good for: An agent that needs a long-running regulated spot venue in the EU, UK and US with a sandbox and per-endpoint key permissions, and can do its own signing.

Watch for: No official MCP server, SDK, llms.txt or OpenAPI file; the registry's Bitstamp servers are third parties proxying public market data


## Why the edge

### Reliability: Bitfinex API +22

- Bitfinex API (85): Read with the hosted lines on the v2 API at api.bitfinex.com. bitfinex.statuspage.io is a Statuspage site with history back to May 2021 (20). Its feed has no entry between 25 March 2026 and 3 November 2026, so the last 90 days are clean on the record; the feed logs platform-wide outages only (a 14-hour maintenance in March 2026, a 3-hour outage in August 2025), so smaller incidents may go unrecorded. Judgement call (30). Rate limits with numbers, 10 to 90 a minute per IP and the WebSocket connection limits (15). `ERR_RATE_LIMIT` and the 60-second block are documented, with no Retry-After; orders take a `cid` but no idempotency key or retry guidance was found (10 of 15). No SLA found (0). Generally available (10). 20 + 30 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 85.
- Bitstamp API (63): Read with the hosted lines on the HTTP API v2 at www.bitstamp.net/api/v2/. status.bitstamp.net is a Statuspage site with component history (20). Its feed for 5 August to 3 November 2026 has 17 entries, among them withdrawals failing on 14 networks for about 3 hours on 21 August, database maintenance with login failures and intermittent trading interruptions for about 1 hour 44 minutes on 23 September, a 39-minute halt of all markets on 5 August, and delistings and single-asset suspensions. One major (10). Rate limits with numbers, 400 a second and 10,000 per 10 minutes (15). Limit errors are named (400.002, 400.067, 400.068) but there is no Retry-After or backoff guidance, duplicate client order ids are allowed, and the only retry guidance is to check the order after a 500.016 timeout (8 of 15). No SLA found (0). Generally available (10). 20 + 10 + 15 + 8 + 0 + 10 = 63.

### Payments & pricing: Bitfinex API +20

- Bitfinex API (40): No machine payment protocol (0). The fees page is public without login (20), though it shows zero maker and taker with no tiers or date. The API is free, public endpoints need no account, and paper trading needs no money (20). A person must sign up in a browser with identity checks and mint the key (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.
- Bitstamp API (20): No machine payment protocol (0). The fee schedule page loaded empty, the API's fee endpoints need a key, and no rate could be read, so fees are scored as not published (0, unchecked). The API is free, public endpoints need no key and the sandbox needs no money (20). A person must sign up in a browser with identity checks and mint the key (0). 0 + 0 + 20 + 0 = 20.

### Maintenance & community: Bitfinex API +13

- Bitfinex API (41): Read as a closed service with open clients. The last dated change we could read is bitfinex-api-node 9.1.0 on 18 July 2026, 108 days before the check; the docs changelog stops in October 2024 (10). Not three dated releases in the last 90 days (0). The bitfinexcom organisation pushes often (bfx-report on 3 November 2026) and the clients have issue trackers, but support articles answered 403 and no reply times were read (10 of 25). Official clients current in four languages, Node 9.1.0 of July 2026 and Python 4.0.0 of October 2025; not in the MCP registry (15). The Node client has a dependency history of security fixes (its last GitHub release notes name two) and no CI was read (6 of 10). 10 + 0 + 10 + 15 + 6 = 41.
- Bitstamp API (28): Read as a closed service. The last dated API change is 28 August 2026, 67 days before the check (20). Only one dated entry in the last 90 days, after 1 July and 12 June (0). No public repository or issue tracker, support pages did not load and support.bitstamp.net did not resolve; a changelog exists (8 of 25). No official SDKs and no MCP registry presence of Bitstamp's own (0). No package to assess (0). 20 + 0 + 8 + 0 + 0 = 28.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Bitfinex API | Bitstamp API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 63 | Bitfinex API +22 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 48 | 51 | Bitstamp API +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 61 | 58 | Bitfinex API +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 62 | 60 | Bitfinex API +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 20 | Bitfinex API +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 41 | 28 | Bitfinex API +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 49 | 53 | Bitstamp API +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **58.4 · C** | **50.4 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Bitfinex API | Bitstamp API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | iFinex Inc. | Bitstamp Ltd. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary hosted API under Bitfinex's API Terms of Service, which our reader couldn't load. The official client libraries (Node, Python, Go, Ruby) are MIT or Apache-2.0 | Proprietary hosted API under Bitstamp's terms of use, which our reader couldn't load |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-07-18 | 2026-08-28 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 480 stars | none |

## Verdicts

**Bitfinex API.** Bitfinex gives an agent scoped keys with a separate withdraw permission, paper-trading sub-accounts on the production API, llms.txt and official clients in four languages. There is no official MCP server, responses are positional arrays with empty error bodies, rate limits run 10 to 90 a minute per IP, and the terms, API terms and privacy statement could not be read.

**Bitstamp API.** Bitstamp documents its v2 API on one static page with numeric rate limits, per-endpoint key permissions, an IP allow-list, a kill switch and a sandbox. There is no official MCP server, duplicate client order ids are allowed, and the fee schedule, terms, privacy policy and country list render by script and could not be read.

## Before you call either

### Bitfinex API

1. Mint a key with read on the scopes the task needs and write only on `orders`; never grant `withdraw` to a trading key, and bind the key to known IPs
2. Use one key per client process, since each key keeps its own strictly increasing nonce and a reused nonce is rejected
3. Rehearse on a paper-trading sub-account with the TEST symbols before touching real balances; the sub-account cannot be converted later
4. Plan requests against the per-endpoint limit of 10 to 90 a minute per IP; `ERR_RATE_LIMIT` blocks the IP for 60 seconds with no Retry-After
5. Map each response by position from the docs' field tables and set a `cid` on orders, because responses are arrays and a 400 carries no reason

### Bitstamp API

1. Mint a key with only the endpoint permissions the task needs and an IP allow-list; keep `revoke_all_api_keys` in reach as a kill switch
2. Treat `client_order_id` as a label, not a guard. On a timeout (500.016) fetch the order by client id before resending, because duplicates are accepted
3. Use a fresh 36-character nonce and a timestamp within 150 seconds of server time on every request, or expect API0004 and API0017
4. Stay under 400 requests a second and 10,000 per 10 minutes; 400.002 and 400.067 mean back off, and open-orders answers are cached for 10 seconds
5. Start on sandbox.bitstamp.net with the same paths, and read the fee schedule in a browser before quoting costs, since it is unreadable to a plain fetch

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Bitfinex API or Bitstamp API?

Bitfinex API scores 58.4 (C) on agent readiness against Bitstamp API's 50.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Bitfinex API and Bitstamp API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Bitfinex API and Bitstamp API without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Bitfinex API. No hosted endpoint is listed for Bitstamp API.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-bitstamp.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-bitstamp.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "bitfinex", "b": "bitstamp"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare bitfinex bitstamp`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bitfinex.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bitstamp.json

## Other comparisons with Bitfinex API or Bitstamp API

- [Bitfinex API vs Bitget](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-bitget.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Bithumb Open API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-bithumb.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Bybit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-bybit.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Coinbase Advanced Trade API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-coinbase-advanced-trade.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Coinbase MCP server (Coinbase for Agents)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-coinbase-mcp.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Crypto.com Exchange API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-crypto-com-exchange.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-deribit.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs dYdX](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-dydx.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Gate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-gate-io.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Gemini Exchange API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-gemini-exchange.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs HTX trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-htx.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Hyperliquid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-hyperliquid.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-kraken.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs MEXC API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-mexc.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs OKX API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-okx.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-uniswap.md)
- [Bitfinex API vs Upbit Open API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitfinex-vs-upbit.md)
- [Bitget vs Bitstamp API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitget-vs-bitstamp.md)
- [Bithumb Open API vs Bitstamp API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bithumb-vs-bitstamp.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Bybit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-bybit.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Coinbase Advanced Trade API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-coinbase-advanced-trade.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Coinbase MCP server (Coinbase for Agents)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-coinbase-mcp.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Crypto.com Exchange API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-crypto-com-exchange.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Deribit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-deribit.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs dYdX](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-dydx.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Gate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-gate-io.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Gemini Exchange API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-gemini-exchange.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs HTX trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-htx.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Hyperliquid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-hyperliquid.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Kraken API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-kraken.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs KuCoin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-kucoin.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs MEXC API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-mexc.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs OKX API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-okx.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Uniswap Trading API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-uniswap.md)
- [Bitstamp API vs Upbit Open API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bitstamp-vs-upbit.md)
- [Binance API vs Bitfinex API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/binance-vs-bitfinex.md)
- [Binance API vs Bitstamp API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/binance-vs-bitstamp.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp