| name | fintel-data |
| description | Query Fintel (fintel.io) institutional market intelligence via the REST API at https://api.fintel.io/v1 with FINTEL_API_KEY (X-API-KEY header), or the official MCP server at https://mcp.fintel.io/mcp. Read-only data: short interest, borrow rate/fee and shares available to borrow, daily short volume, fails-to-deliver (FTD), institutional ownership from SEC 13F filings, insider transactions from SEC Form 3/4/5, analyst price targets, ratings and forecasts, dividends and earnings history, earnings and dividend calendars, EOD price bars, last trade price, security master lookup by ticker/CUSIP/ISIN/FIGI, leaderboards, watchlists and alerts. Triggers: "fintel", "fintel.io", short interest, short squeeze data, borrow rate, cost to borrow, shares available to borrow, FTD, fails to deliver, short volume, 13F holders, institutional owners, who owns X, insider buying, insider selling, Form 4 transactions, analyst price target, days to cover, short interest ratio.
|
Fintel Data Skill
Fintel (fintel.io) is an institutional-grade market
intelligence platform.
Its strongest datasets are the ones most other providers lack: short
interest, borrow rates, short volume, fails-to-deliver, 13F institutional
ownership, and insider transactions.
Fintel exposes two surfaces backed by the same data contract:
| Surface | Endpoint | Auth | Best for |
|---|
| REST | https://api.fintel.io/v1/* | X-API-KEY header | Default — curl from any CLI agent |
| MCP | https://mcp.fintel.io/mcp | X-API-KEY header | MCP-native clients, tool auto-discovery |
Both require a Fintel API key. This skill is READ-ONLY — only call
GET endpoints. The API also exposes write endpoints (create/delete stock
lists, alert subscriptions, teams); do not call them.
Step 1: Resolve FINTEL_API_KEY
The skill resolves FINTEL_API_KEY in this order:
FINTEL_API_KEY environment variable
FINTEL_API_KEY in .env in the current directory
FINTEL_API_KEY in .env at the git repo root (so a worktree inherits the key from the main checkout)
!`if [ -n "$FINTEL_API_KEY" ]; then echo "KEY_FROM_ENV_VAR"; elif [ -f .env ] && grep -qE "^FINTEL_API_KEY=" .env; then echo "KEY_FROM_LOCAL_DOTENV:$(pwd)/.env"; else GIT_COMMON=$(git rev-parse --path-format=absolute --git-common-dir 2>/dev/null); if [ -n "$GIT_COMMON" ]; then ROOT=$(dirname "$GIT_COMMON"); if [ -f "$ROOT/.env" ] && grep -qE "^FINTEL_API_KEY=" "$ROOT/.env"; then echo "KEY_FROM_ROOT_DOTENV:$ROOT/.env"; else echo "KEY_NOT_SET"; fi; else echo "KEY_NOT_SET"; fi; fi`
Then act on the result:
Step 2: Resolve the Security
Most endpoints are addressed by {country}/{symbol} — an ISO country
code plus ticker, e.g. us/AAPL. Default to us when the user gives
only a ticker.
If the ticker is ambiguous or the user gives a company name, CUSIP,
ISIN, or FIGI, resolve it first:
curl -s -H "X-API-KEY: $FINTEL_API_KEY" "https://api.fintel.io/v1/securities?query=apple&country=us"
curl -s -H "X-API-KEY: $FINTEL_API_KEY" "https://api.fintel.io/v1/identifiers/isin/US0378331005"
Step 3: Match the Request to an Endpoint
| User wants | Endpoint | Notes |
|---|
| Short interest, days to cover | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/short-interest | Trailing year, NYSE/NASDAQ-reported. Limited availability — must be enabled per account; 403 means not entitled |
| Borrow rate, cost to borrow, shares available | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/borrow-rate | Latest securities-lending fee rate, rebate rate, shares available |
| Daily short volume | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/short-volume | Trailing year: short, short-exempt, total volume |
| Fails-to-deliver / FTD | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/fails-to-deliver | Trailing-year SEC FTD records (US only) |
| Institutional owners / 13F holders | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/owners | Current SEC 13F-derived holders |
| Insider transactions / Form 4 | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/insiders | SEC Form 3/4/5-derived; count param |
| Analyst price targets | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/price-targets | High, low, mean, median |
| Analyst buy/hold/sell ratings | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/analyst-ratings | Aggregated recommendations |
| Revenue / EPS forecasts | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/forecast | Aggregated analyst estimates |
| EOD price history | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/eod | period: 1m, 3m, 6m, 1y (default), 2y, 3y, 5y, all |
| Latest price + derived stats | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/last-price | 52w high/low, WTD/MTD/YTD change; falls back to EOD close with meta.warnings=["quote_stale"] |
| Dividend history | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/dividends | |
| Earnings history and surprises | /v1/securities/{country}/{symbol}/earnings | |
| Upcoming earnings (one stock / market-wide) | or |
Full parameter details, country/exchange discovery endpoints, and more
curl examples: read references/api-reference.md.
Step 4: Call the API
curl -s -H "X-API-KEY: $FINTEL_API_KEY" \
"https://api.fintel.io/v1/securities/us/AAPL/short-volume" | python3 -m json.tool
- Success responses are JSON; some carry a
meta object (warnings,
freshness, status). Surface meta.warnings to the user when present.
- Errors return
{"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}} — e.g.
unauthorized (bad/missing key), 403 (dataset not enabled for the
account, common for short-interest), 503 not_available (ranking
service down — retry later, don't treat as empty data).
- Usage is metered per account — batch thoughtfully; don't poll.
Step 5: MCP Alternative (Optional)
For MCP-native setups, the same tools are discoverable from the official
server (tool names like fintel.get_short_interest,
fintel.get_security_owners — REST parity, same entitlements):
claude mcp add --transport http fintel https://mcp.fintel.io/mcp --header "X-API-KEY: your_key_here"
Prefer REST via curl when shell access is available — it needs no setup
beyond the key. Use MCP when the user explicitly asks for it or shell
access is restricted (note: neither works on Claude.ai's sandbox).
Step 6: Respond to the User
- Format numbers cleanly: prices to 2 decimals, percentages to 1-2
decimals, share counts with commas or abbreviations (2.3M, 1.1B).
- For short data: contextualize — short interest as % of float, days to
cover, borrow fee trend direction. High borrow fee + falling shares
available is the classic squeeze setup; present the data, not a
prediction.
- For ownership/insiders: use tables (holder, shares, change, date).
Distinguish buys from sells and option exercises in Form 4 data.
- Note the data source: "Fintel" with dataset provenance (SEC 13F, Form
3/4/5, NYSE/NASDAQ short reports) when relevant.
- Never turn the data into a trading recommendation, price target, or
squeeze call — present facts and let the user draw conclusions.
Reference Files
references/api-reference.md — full REST endpoint reference: all GET
endpoints with parameters, defaults, limits, error semantics, MCP tool
name mapping, and curl examples.