Build a real-time stock news alert bot in Python (WebSocket + Discord)

In this tutorial you'll build a small Python service that watches the stock news stream for the tickers you care about and posts each new headline to a Discord channel. It takes about 15 minutes and fewer than 60 lines of code.

Why use a WebSocket instead of polling?

Polling a REST endpoint every few seconds wastes requests and still adds latency: on average, half your polling interval. A WebSocket keeps one connection open and the server pushes each article as soon as it's ingested and enriched. You also filter on the server, so your bot only receives the articles it will act on.

1. Install dependencies

pip install websockets httpx

2. Connect and subscribe

Connect to the stream with your key, then send a subscribe message. Channels are combined with OR: you get an article if it matches any of them, and you get it only once.

import asyncio
import json
import os

import httpx
import websockets

API_KEY = os.environ["MARKETNEWSAPI_KEY"]
WEBHOOK = os.environ["DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL"]
URL = f"wss://ws.marketnewsapi.com/v1/stream?api_key={API_KEY}"
CHANNELS = ["ticker:NVDA", "ticker:TSLA", "keyword:guidance"]

3. Post each article to Discord

Each article message carries the full article object, including an AI summary, so the alert is useful without opening the link.

async def post(client: httpx.AsyncClient, article: dict, matched: list[str]) -> None:
    symbols = article["tickers"]
    await client.post(WEBHOOK, json={
        "embeds": [{
            "title": article["title"][:256],
            "url": article["url"],
            "description": article.get("summary") or article.get("snippet") or "",
            "color": 0x22C55E,
            "footer": {"text": f"{article['source']['name']} · {', '.join(symbols)}"},
            "timestamp": article["published_at"],
        }]
    })

4. Run forever, reconnect automatically

websockets.connect used as an async iterator reconnects with exponential backoff, so a deploy or network blip doesn't kill the bot.

async def main() -> None:
    async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=10) as client:
        async for ws in websockets.connect(URL):
            try:
                await ws.send(json.dumps({"action": "subscribe", "channels": CHANNELS}))
                async for raw in ws:
                    msg = json.loads(raw)
                    if msg["type"] == "article":
                        await post(client, msg["data"], msg["matched"])
                    elif msg["type"] == "error":
                        print("server error:", msg)
            except websockets.ConnectionClosed as exc:
                print("disconnected:", exc.code, exc.reason)
                continue


if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

Variation: only alert on press releases

For earnings and company announcements, subscribe to type:press_release and keep articles that mention a holding:

HOLDINGS = {"AAPL", "MSFT", "NVDA"}
CHANNELS = ["type:press_release"]

# inside the loop:
if msg["type"] == "article" and HOLDINGS & set(msg["data"]["tickers"]):
    await post(client, msg["data"], msg["matched"])

Don't miss articles during reconnects

Store the published_at of the last article you processed. After a reconnect, call GET /v1/news with the same tickers and from=<that timestamp> to backfill anything published while you were offline. Articles have stable ids, so de-duplicating is a set lookup.

Deploying it

Any always-on host works: a $5 VPS, Fly.io, Railway or a container next to your other services. Memory use is tiny. Pro includes 3 concurrent connections, so you can run production and staging at the same time.

Frequently asked questions