wtfutil/wtf · error

yfinance: API error for symbol %q: %v

Error message

yfinance: API error for symbol %q: %v

What it means

Yahoo Finance chart responses wrap application-level errors in a chart.error JSON object even when the HTTP status is 200. fetchChartMeta surfaces that nested error (as %v of the parsed error struct) with the symbol for context.

Source

Thrown at modules/stocks/yfinance/yquote.go:88

	req.Header.Set("User-Agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; wtf-yfinance/1.0)")

	resp, err := httpClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	defer resp.Body.Close()

	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("yfinance: unexpected status %d for symbol %q", resp.StatusCode, symbol)
	}

	var parsed chartResponse
	if err := json.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&parsed); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	if parsed.Chart.Error != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("yfinance: API error for symbol %q: %v", symbol, parsed.Chart.Error)
	}

	if len(parsed.Chart.Result) == 0 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("yfinance: no results for symbol %q", symbol)
	}

	return &parsed.Chart.Result[0].Meta, nil
}

// marketState determines whether the quote is trading pre-market, in the
// regular session, post-market, or closed, based on the trading period
// windows Yahoo reports for the current day.
func marketState(periods tradingPeriods) string {
	now := time.Now().Unix()

	switch {
	case now < periods.Pre.Start:
		return "CLOSED"

View on GitHub (pinned to bb838c1ccb)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped %v message — it names the actual Yahoo-side problem
2. Validate the symbol against Yahoo Finance's website search
3. Fix symbol formatting in config (e.g. use the exact Yahoo notation like BRK-B, ^GSPC)
4. Add retry/backoff if the message indicates a transient Yahoo error

Example fix

// before
client.GetQuote("INVALID SYMBOL WITH SPACES")
// after
client.GetQuote("AAPL")

valid, _ := regexp.MatchString(`^[A-Za-z0-9^.\-=]+$`, symbol)
if !valid || symbol == "" { return errors.New("invalid symbol format") }

func hasChartError(cr chartResponse) bool { return cr.Chart.Error != nil }

meta, err := fetchChartMeta(symbol)
if err != nil && strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "yfinance: API error") {
    log.Printf("Yahoo rejected symbol %q: %v", symbol, err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: HTTP 200 response whose JSON body contains chart.error non-null — typically "Invalid input - symbol=xxx" for malformed or unknown symbols, or Yahoo-side errors returned in-band.

Common situations: Typo'd ticker symbols in widget config; symbols with special characters not URL-escaped; Yahoo flagging exchange/symbol combinations as invalid; expired/changed symbol listings.

Related errors

• yfinance: unexpected status %d for symbol %q
• %s
• %s
• errors.New(msg.Msg)
• errors.New(hibpErr.Message)

AI-assisted analysis of wtfutil/wtf@bb838c1ccb (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/89a88aa5d146b034. Report an issue: GitHub.