Most consumers don’t even recognize when they’re using an API, despite the fact that they’re ubiquitous in today’s financial environment and will soon be responsible for trillions of dollars in annual transactions.
Financial transactions were conducted mostly over the telephone before the advent of the Internet. To buy stocks, for instance, you had to contact your broker and have them make the purchase on your behalf. Buying and selling financial securities has gone digital since the advent of the internet, and this shift has enabled significant improvements. Trading application programming interfaces (APIs) are one such method.
Let’s Define API
The acronym API refers to the “application programming interface” used by computer programs. A software application’s ability to communicate with other software is facilitated by an API. An application programming interface (API) is a conduit that conveys requests to a system and receives its response.
Booking a flight on a travel price comparison site like Expedia is an everyday example of an API in action. The service will search through all of the airlines’ databases and return results once you’ve entered your desired departure and destination cities, dates of travel, and the number of passengers. Every airline’s APIs are used for this purpose.
The same thing happens when you use a hotel comparison website, such as Hotels Combined or Trivago, to look for a place to stay. The platform polls all available hotel reservation systems via their own APIs and returns the resulting room rate data.
How APIs are used by Traders
The purpose of a trading API is to facilitate communication with a trading platform. To be more exact, you can now trade on the exchange itself. This is helpful for traders who utilize algorithmic models on their own trading systems and who need real-time pricing in order to act on trading signals from such models, whether by hand or automatically.
While algorithmic trading programs make trade APIs especially popular among hedge funds and proprietary trading businesses, retail investors can also make use of the APIs offered by online brokerages and, more recently, cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitfinex, Bittrex, and Coinbase Pro are just a few of the most well-known crypto asset exchanges that also provide trading APIs to their clientele. The use of these APIs paves the way for real-time data feeds and trades.
Crypto Trading and APIs
Professional crypto traders’ increasing reliance on APIs is a reflection of how far the market for cryptographic assets has come.
As more institutional money flows into the cryptocurrency markets, APIs and algorithmic trading will become increasingly commonplace. For example, trading bots that look to profit from arbitrage situations like these will help the cryptocurrency market become more liquid and efficient.
API Dollar Opportunity
APIs are as crucial to the modern digital world as they are to the world of financial trade. Actually, we’re on the cusp of a global shift to an “API-powered economy” worth trillions of dollars per year.
RapidAPI is the largest API Marketplace in the world, with over a million developers using its more than 10,000 APIs. Already handling over a trillion API calls every year, their growth is rising at a hockey-stick rate. An overview of where APIs are utilized and why they will continue to be so beneficial may be gleaned by perusing RapidAPI’s Top 50 Most Popular APIs (2020) as determined by developer usage. All of the components of the blockchain ecosystem and the digital economy fall under this category.
In an effort to provide a uniform API standard for blockchain applications, Band Protocol (BAND) was the first blockchain project to join the OpenAPI Initiative in December.
OpenAPI Initiative
Linux Foundation’s OpenAPI Initiative is open-source. A consortium of industry experts designed it to standardize API descriptions. The OAI promotes a vendor-neutral description format.
OpenAPI Initiative participants include tech heavyweights. Ron Ratovsky (SmartBear Software), Darrel Miller (Microsoft), Marsh Gardiner (Google), Jeremy Whitlock (Google), Uri Sarid (Mulesoft), and Mike Ralphson lead the Technical Steering Committee since 2016. (Mermade Software).
The OpenAPI Specification (OAS) offers a standard, programming language-agnostic interface definition for REST APIs, allowing humans and computers to discover and understand a service’s capabilities without source code, supplementary documentation, or network traffic analysis. A consumer can comprehend and engage with a remote service when defined via OAS. The OAS eliminates guessing when calling service as interface descriptions do for lower-level programming.
Tens of thousands of developers are producing thousands of open source reports of tools using OAS.
APIs and Oracles
Blockchains don’t have built-in API and external system communication. Oracles let blockchains or smart contracts access external data. An oracle connects off-chain and on-chain events since blockchains are one-way.
Inbound oracles add real-world data to the blockchain. Outbound oracles notify outside parties of blockchain events.
Inbound oracles allow real-world data to be called to the blockchain, with use cases ranging from automated asset trading to game dApp rewards. Oracles supply the data needed to execute smart contract rules.
Outbound oracles inform off-chain parties of on-chain occurrences, like smart contracts that can transfer data off-chain. A smart lock that accepts payment on its blockchain address and unlocks automatically is an example.
Oracles bridge the API and blockchain economies. Band Protocol’s decision to join the OpenAPI Initiative will benefit the whole blockchain ecosystem and promote innovation and adoption.
About RoboFi
Robofi is a Defi platform that envisions a marketplace for revolutionary Dao crypto trading bots. Through its IBO (Initial Bot Offering) system, community members can maximize their earnings in an easy, simple, and secure way. We create a safe and transparent environment based on blockchain technologies that help developers bring crypto trading bot platforms to the market. In addition, individuals will have easy access to these bot applications, thereby generating more earning opportunities. RoboFi ecosystem is fueled by the VICS token.
About VICS
VICS token has a distinctive and enticing concept. VICS is the BEP-20 token, built on the Binance smart chain. It is a core utility token in the RoboFi ecosystem, the reliable crypto trading bot marketplace. One important utility is to own the governance token of DABots and participate in an IBO (Initial Bot Offering) to receive additional incentives. VICS is available on major exchanges for trading.
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I'm Carina, a passionate crypto trader, analyst, and enthusiast. With years of experience in the thrilling world of cryptocurrency, I have dedicated my time to understanding the complexities and trends of this ever-evolving industry.
Through my expertise, I strive to empower individuals with the knowledge and tools they need to navigate the exciting realm of digital assets. Whether you're a seasoned investor or a curious beginner, I'm here to share valuable insights, practical tips, and comprehensive analyses to help you make informed decisions in the crypto space.