Connect Claude to Shibui Finance, a free MCP server with a daily-refreshed database of 9,900+ US equities. Once connected, Claude queries real data instead of generating numbers from memory. The database covers 31 million daily price records from 1962 to yesterday, quarterly and annual financial statements, 56 technical indicators, daily valuations, and 6.4 million SEC filings. No API key, no code, no subscription. Setup takes under two minutes and works on free and paid Claude plans.
What "live stock data" means in Claude
When people search for "live stock data in Claude," they usually mean one of two things: real-time streaming quotes (millisecond-level prices for active trading), or current, verified data from a real source instead of numbers Claude invents from training data.
Shibui Finance solves the second problem. It gives Claude access to a financial database that is refreshed every trading day after market close. Prices, financial statements, technical indicators, and valuations are current as of the previous close. This is end-of-day data, not real-time, but for stock screening, fundamental analysis, backtesting, and research, end-of-day is what you need. Real-time data matters for trade execution, and Shibui is not a trading tool.
If you need real-time or intraday quotes specifically, see the MCP server comparison for options like Alpha Vantage (delayed quotes, free tier with limits). For everything else, read on.
What "end-of-day" means during market hours
The database refreshes daily after the US market close (typically by 7pm ET). If you query during trading hours, the most recent price data is from the previous close, not the current session. This means a query at 2pm ET on Tuesday shows Monday's closing prices.
For screening, fundamental analysis, and backtesting, this is the correct granularity. You are evaluating companies on their financials, valuation trends, and historical patterns, none of which change intraday. The one scenario where stale data matters is if you screen in the morning and a stock gaps significantly at the open. Treat Shibui results as research input, not real-time signals. If a number looks wrong, check whether the market has moved since the last close before assuming a data error.
SEC filing metadata updates more frequently. New filings from EDGAR typically appear within hours of being submitted. Earnings data updates when reports are filed, not on a fixed daily schedule.
Without a data source, Claude guesses
Ask Claude "what is Tesla's P/E ratio?" without a data connection and it will generate a plausible number from its training data. Sometimes close, sometimes months or years stale, always unverifiable from the response alone. This is not a Claude-specific problem. Every major LLM does it. For the full breakdown of how and why this happens, see How to Stop Claude from Hallucinating Financial Data.
What data Claude gets access to
| Data | Coverage | Refresh |
|---|---|---|
| Daily prices (OHLCV) | 1962-present, ~31M rows | Daily |
| Technical indicators (RSI, MACD, SMA, Bollinger Bands, 52 more) | 1962-present | Daily |
| Quarterly financial statements | 1990-present | As filed |
| Annual financial statements | 1990-present | As filed |
| Daily valuations (market cap, P/E, P/B, EV) | 1993-present | Daily |
| Earnings (actual vs estimate, surprise %) | 2000-present | As reported |
| SEC filings metadata (342 form types) | 1993-present, 6.4M records | Near-real-time |
| Analyst estimates | Current | As updated |
All data covers NYSE and NASDAQ: roughly 9,900 securities including common stocks, ETFs, ADRs, and REITs. No international markets, no options, no crypto, no intraday data. For the full list of sources, providers, and known limitations, see the data sources page.
How the connection works
Shibui Finance uses MCP (Model Context Protocol), the open standard Claude uses to connect to external tools. You add the connector URL once in your Claude settings, and every conversation after that can query the database. Claude writes SQL against the data and returns structured results. You can read the query it wrote and verify the logic.
The database is pre-loaded, not API-forwarding. When Claude needs to screen 10,000 stocks, it runs a single database query in seconds. There are no per-request API calls, no rate limits, and no API key to manage. For the architectural comparison with API-forwarding MCP servers, see Free Financial Data API for AI.
Data quality and sources
Shibui's database includes end-of-day prices and fundamentals, SEC EDGAR filing metadata, and FRED FX rates. This is not institutional-grade data. It is suitable for screening, research, and directional analysis, not regulatory compliance or trade execution. The data sources page documents exactly where each field comes from, what is covered, and what is not.
A common question is whether Claude can connect to an institutional terminal. No MCP server exists for that category of product. You can export data as CSV and upload it to Claude manually, but that is a one-time transfer, not a live connection. Shibui's daily-refreshed data is sufficient for screening and research, though not a substitute for institutional-grade sources.
Try it now
Connect Shibui to Claude (setup guide), then try this query:
"What is Apple's current P/E ratio, and how has it changed over the last 5 years? Show quarterly."
Compare the result to Apple on Yahoo Finance. The Shibui number comes from a database query against daily valuation data, not from Claude's training weights.
Frequently asked questions
Does Claude have access to live stock data?
Not by default. Claude generates financial numbers from training data, which are often wrong or outdated. To give Claude live stock data, connect it to an MCP server like Shibui Finance. Once connected, Claude queries a daily-refreshed database instead of guessing. Setup takes under 2 minutes.
Is Shibui Finance real-time?
No. Shibui provides end-of-day data, refreshed daily after market close. For screening, fundamental analysis, and backtesting, end-of-day is the right granularity. Real-time streaming matters for trade execution, which is outside Shibui's scope.
What is the best free stock data connector for Claude?
It depends on what you need. Shibui Finance is free with a pre-loaded database (no API key, no rate limits). Alpha Vantage MCP offers a free tier with 25 requests per day and requires an API key. Financial Modeling Prep MCP has a free tier with limits. Shibui is the only one that pre-loads the data, making cross-market screening instant. See the full MCP server comparison.
Can Claude access institutional terminal data?
No MCP server exists for institutional terminals. You can export data as CSV and upload it to Claude manually, but that is a one-time transfer, not a live connection. Shibui provides daily-refreshed US equity data for free, suitable for screening and research but not institutional-grade.