How to Connect Claude to Live Stock Market Data (Web or Desktop, 2 Minutes)

Claude can query live stock market data directly - real share counts from SEC filings, dilution risk, cash runway, live quotes, and news - through an MCP (Model Context Protocol) connector. On the web at claude.ai, connecting is one click with no API key. In the Claude Desktop app, it is a two-minute setup with a key. Both paths are below; the server is remote, so there is nothing to install either way.

What you get

Once connected, Claude answers questions like these with live, sourced data instead of stale training knowledge:

• "What's the dilution chain state for GPUS - active shelfs, ATMs, warrants, convertibles?"
• "What were this company's cash, float, and active facilities on 2024-12-31?"
• "Screen for stocks under $5 with an active ATM and less than 6 months of cash runway."
• "Show me today's most active small caps by dollar volume."

Behind those answers are 14 tools covering dilution forensics (extracted from primary SEC filings, every event cited to its accession number), point-in-time "as-of" state, a screener, live scanner snapshots, 22 years of daily bars, fundamentals, news, and SEC filings. The full tool reference is on GitHub.

Prerequisites

1. A Claude account - on the web (claude.ai, any plan that supports custom connectors) or the Claude Desktop app.
2. A SNACS subscription: snacs.trade/api, Edge $99/mo or Alpha $199/mo, both include MCP access. You only need to create an API key for the Desktop path; on the web you just sign in.

Connect on claude.ai (web) - one click, no key

1. Open claude.ai and go to Settings, then Connectors.
2. Choose Add custom connector.
3. Name it SNACS, enter the server URL https://mcp.snacs.trade, and leave the advanced fields empty (those are for OAuth client credentials you don't need).
4. Click Connect, sign in with your SNACS account, and approve read-only access.

That's it - OAuth 2.1 under the hood, no API key involved. The 14 SNACS tools appear in your claude.ai chats.

Connect in Claude Desktop (API key)

1. Create a key in your SNACS account settings (keys look like snacs_sk_live_...).
2. Open Claude Desktop and go to Settings, then Connectors.
3. Choose Add custom connector.
4. Enter the server URL: https://mcp.snacs.trade
5. Add an authorization header: Authorization: Bearer snacs_sk_live_YOUR_KEY
6. Save. Claude Desktop performs the MCP handshake and lists the 14 SNACS tools.

Try it

Paste this into a new conversation:

Using the SNACS tools: pull the dilution snapshot for GPUS, then show its last 5 daily bars, and tell me whether it has an active ATM and how many months of cash runway it has.

Claude will call snacs_dilution_get, snacs_bars_get, and snacs_facilities_get and assemble the answer with real numbers. Every dilution figure traces to a primary SEC filing.

How the data stays honest

• SEC-direct: share counts, facilities, and events are extracted from 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, S-1/3, 424B5, Form 4, 13F, and 13G/D filings - not third-party fundamentals feeds. Corporate events carry a verbatim quote from the source filing.
• Point-in-time: the as-of tool returns state as it stood on any date, which means no lookahead bias if you're backtesting an idea.
• Live: during market hours the snapshot and quote tools serve the same real-time scanner feed the SNACS platform runs on (4 AM to 8 PM ET session).

Rate limits and troubleshooting

• Edge: 50 requests/min. Alpha: 1,000/min. Hitting the cap returns a clear retry message inside the tool result.
• Web connector won't connect: make sure the advanced fields are empty and the URL is exactly https://mcp.snacs.trade with no path, then retry - you'll be asked to sign in to SNACS.
• "Invalid token" on the Desktop path: the key was mistyped or revoked - regenerate in account settings and update the header.
• Tools not appearing: remove and re-add the connector.

Other clients

Using Claude Code, Cursor, or VS Code instead? Each has its own one-minute setup: configs for all of them are in the snacs-mcp repo, with runnable API examples in snacs-api-examples. The server is listed in the official MCP registry as trade.snacs/snacs-data.