OpenBB-finance/OpenBB · error · ValueError

Symbol is required.

Error message

Symbol is required.

What it means

The DeribitFuturesHistoricalQueryParams symbol validator first rejects an empty value, then synchronously fetches the complete live symbol universe from Deribit (futures + perpetuals via run_async) and rejects any symbol not in it. This makes validation network-dependent: it fails both on empty input and on any instrument not currently listed, and it can be slow. The ValueError comes from pydantic field validation.

Source

Thrown at openbb_platform/providers/deribit/openbb_deribit/models/futures_historical.py:51

    }

    interval: DeribitIntervals = Field(
        default="1d", description=QUERY_DESCRIPTIONS.get("interval", "")
    )

    @field_validator("symbol", mode="before", check_fields=False)
    @classmethod
    def _validate_symbol(cls, v):
        """Validate the symbol."""
        # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
        from openbb_core.provider.utils.helpers import run_async
        from openbb_deribit.utils.helpers import (
            get_futures_symbols,
            get_perpetual_symbols,
        )

        if not v:
            raise ValueError("Symbol is required.")

        futures_symbols = run_async(get_futures_symbols)
        perpetual_symbols = run_async(get_perpetual_symbols)
        all_symbols = list(perpetual_symbols) + futures_symbols
        symbols = v.upper().split(",")
        new_symbols: list = []

        for symbol in symbols:
            if symbol not in all_symbols:
                raise ValueError(
                    f"Invalid Deribit symbol: {symbol}. Supported symbols are: {', '.join(all_symbols)}"
                )
            if symbol in perpetual_symbols:
                new_symbols.append(perpetual_symbols[symbol])
            else:
                new_symbols.append(symbol)

        return ",".join(new_symbols)

View on GitHub (pinned to 3e071fcc2c)

Solutions

1. Pass a non-empty, currently listed Deribit instrument name, e.g. 'BTC-PERPETUAL' or 'ETH-27JUN25'
2. Refresh the valid universe programmatically first: from openbb_deribit.utils.helpers import get_futures_symbols; valid = await get_futures_symbols()
3. For backfills on expired contracts, note the validator only knows live listings — pin a package version or use Deribit's API directly for delisted instruments

Example fix

# before
hist = obb.derivatives.futures.historical(symbol='BTC-27SEP24', provider='deribit')  # expired

# after
from openbb_deribit.utils.helpers import get_futures_symbols
valid = await get_futures_symbols()
sym = next(s for s in valid if s.startswith('BTC-2'))  # pick a live dated future
hist = obb.derivatives.futures.historical(symbol=sym, provider='deribit')

from openbb_deribit.utils.helpers import get_futures_symbols, get_perpetual_symbols

async def assert_live_symbol(symbol: str) -> str:
    s = symbol.strip().upper()
    universe = set(await get_perpetual_symbols()) | set(await get_futures_symbols())
    if s not in universe:
        raise ValueError(f'{s!r} not currently listed on Deribit')
    return s

async def is_live_deribit_symbol(symbol: str) -> bool:
    s = symbol.strip().upper()
    universe = set(await get_perpetual_symbols()) | set(await get_futures_symbols())
    return s in universe

try:
    hist = obb.derivatives.futures.historical(symbol=sym, provider='deribit')
except ValueError as e:
    if 'Symbol is required' in str(e):
        raise  # caller bug: empty symbol
    if 'Invalid Deribit symbol' in str(e):
        sym = 'BTC-PERPETUAL'  # fall back to a always-listed instrument
        hist = obb.derivatives.futures.historical(symbol=sym, provider='deribit')
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: symbol='' (empty) — the direct trigger for 'Symbol is required.'; expired futures like 'BTC-27SEP24' no longer listed; typo'd instrument names; lowercase input is fine (uppercased) but hyphen/spacing variants must exactly match Deribit naming (e.g. 'BTC-PERPETUAL', 'ETH-27JUN25').

Common situations: Passing expired contract symbols after rollover; hardcoded instrument names in production code aging out; symbol lists built from other exchanges; calls during Deribit API downtime where the symbol fetch itself errors.

Related errors

• Invalid Deribit symbol, {symbol}. Supported symbols are: {',
• OBBject Extension Error -> An OBBject extension that modif
• Unsupported data format.
• ValueError: {ve}. Ensure the data format matches the expecte
• TypeError: {te}. Check the data types in your results.

AI-assisted analysis of OpenBB-finance/OpenBB@3e071fcc2c (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cb4c22ca5b044795. Report an issue: GitHub.