Frequently Asked Questions

OpenStock is an open-source alternative to expensive market platforms. It allows you to track real-time prices, set personalized alerts, and explore detailed company insights. The project is built openly, for everyone, and is forever free. It's a community-driven project developed by the Open Dev Society.

No, OpenStock is not a brokerage. It's a data aggregation and visualization tool. It does not handle trades, execute orders, or hold your funds. It's designed to help you monitor the market and make informed decisions, but you will still need to use a licensed brokerage to buy and sell stocks.

OpenStock supports over 30 international stock exchanges, including NSE, BSE (India), NYSE, NASDAQ (US), LSE (UK), and TSX (Canada). You can find a complete list of supported exchanges in the Market Support section of the documentation. Please be aware that data availability and real-time access may vary depending on the exchange and your data provider plan.

OpenStock sources market data from Finnhub, a reputable financial data provider. The data is highly accurate, but there are important limitations to be aware of:

• Free Tier: The free Finnhub tier provides real-time data for US stocks with a 15-minute delay for all other exchanges.
• Rate Limits: The free tier is limited to 60 API calls per minute.
• Provider Rules: Market data may be delayed based on specific provider rules and regulations.

For real-time data on all supported exchanges, you will need to upgrade to a paid Finnhub plan.

OpenStock is built using a modern and powerful technology stack:

• Frontend: Next.js 15 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS v4, shadcn/ui, and Radix UI.
• Backend: Next.js API Routes, Better Auth for authentication, MongoDB for data persistence.
• Data & Integrations: Finnhub API for market data, TradingView for charts, Inngest for background workflows, and Nodemailer for email alerts.
• Language: Primarily TypeScript (~93.4%), with some CSS (~6%) and JavaScript (~0.6%).

We welcome contributions from everyone, whether you're a student, a self-taught developer, or a seasoned engineer. Here's how you can help:

• Open an issue to discuss ideas or report bugs.
• Look for "good first issue" or "help wanted" labels on our GitHub issues page.
• Submit pull requests. Please keep them focused and add screenshots for any UI changes.
• Be kind, guide beginners, and help build a welcoming community—this is the Open Dev Society way.

All contributions are greatly appreciated and help us make OpenStock better for everyone.

OpenStock is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). This is a strong copyleft license that ensures the software and any modifications remain free and open source. If you modify, redistribute, or deploy OpenStock (including as a web service), you must release your source code under the same license and credit the original authors. This license guarantees that OpenStock will always remain free for everyone, forever.

Personalized alerts are a key feature of OpenStock. Currently, the primary alert mechanism is through email:

1. Sign up for an OpenStock account and complete the onboarding process.
2. During onboarding, you can set your investment goals and risk tolerance.
3. The system will automatically send you an AI-personalized welcome email.
4. Every Monday at 9 AM, you will receive a weekly news summary email with market insights.

Future versions of OpenStock will include more granular, real-time price alerts directly within the application.

Yes, we take data security very seriously. OpenStock uses several security measures to protect your information:

• Authentication: Secure email/password authentication using Better Auth with best-in-class security practices.
• Data Storage: User data is stored in MongoDB, a secure and scalable database.
• API Keys: API keys for services like Finnhub are stored securely as environment variables and are not exposed to the client.
• HTTPS: All communication with the application is encrypted over HTTPS.

If you discover a security vulnerability, please email us at opendevsociety@cc.cc for responsible disclosure.

OpenStock is developed by the Open Dev Society, a community of developers, designers, and open-source advocates committed to building free and accessible tools. The project was initially developed by ravixalgorithm and has since grown with contributions from many talented individuals.

Our mission is to break down barriers to financial knowledge and tools. We believe technology should belong to everyone, and we are building a community that welcomes newcomers with trust, not gatekeeping.