# QuantConnect Support Questions - Benzinga News Feed Implementation
## Project Context
We are developing a professional news monitoring algorithm for the Almuraqib financial AI project, targeting approximately 700-900 low-float stocks with real-time news alerts via Telegram.
## Current Implementation Overview
### Functions Used:
1. **`OnSecuritiesChanged(self, changes)`** - Called when securities are added/removed from universe
2. **`AddData(BenzingaNews, symbol)`** - Subscribe to Benzinga news for a specific symbol
3. **`RemoveData(BenzingaNews, symbol)`** - Unsubscribe from news for a symbol
4. **`OnData(self, data)`** - Receives news articles through `data.Get(BenzingaNews)`
5. **`self.notify.telegram(id, message, token)`** - Send Telegram notifications
### Current Workflow:
```python
def OnSecuritiesChanged(self, changes):
for security in changes.AddedSecurities:
symbol = security.Symbol
if symbol.value in self.universe_tickers:
self.AddData(BenzingaNews, symbol)
self.news_subscriptions.add(symbol.value)
self.log(f"[News] Added news subscription for {symbol.value}")
for security in changes.RemovedSecurities:
symbol = security.Symbol
if symbol.value in self.news_subscriptions:
self.RemoveData(BenzingaNews, symbol)
self.news_subscriptions.discard(symbol.value)
```
### Data Received:
```python
def OnData(self, data):
if data.ContainsKey(BenzingaNews):
news_collection = data.Get(BenzingaNews)
for article in news_collection.Values:
# Article contains: Title, Contents, Symbols, Categories, Tags, etc.
self.process_news_article(article)
```
---
## Questions for QuantConnect Support
### 1. News Subscription Verification
**Q1.1:** When we call `self.AddData(BenzingaNews, symbol)` for a stock, is there any callback, event, or confirmation mechanism that tells us:
- The subscription was successfully created?
- The subscription is actively receiving data?
- The subscription failed or encountered an error?
**Q1.2:** How can we programmatically verify that all our news subscriptions (700+ stocks) are active and working? Currently, we track subscriptions manually using a set (`self.news_subscriptions`), but we have no platform-level confirmation.
**Q1.3:** Does Benzinga News Feed provide any subscription status API or method we can query? For example:
```python
# Does something like this exist?
subscription_status = self.GetDataStatus(BenzingaNews, symbol)
active_subscriptions = self.GetActiveSubscriptions(BenzingaNews)
```
**Q1.4:** In `OnData(data)`, if we don't receive news for a particular stock for several days, does that mean:
- A) The subscription is working, but there's no news for that stock
- B) The subscription might have failed
- C) There's no way to distinguish between these cases
**Q1.5:** Are there any logs or diagnostics we can enable to see all active Benzinga subscriptions at runtime?
---
### 2. News Data Coverage and Limitations
**Q2.1:** When we subscribe to 700-900 stocks simultaneously for Benzinga News:
- Is there a maximum limit on concurrent subscriptions?
- Are there rate limits or throttling we should be aware of?
- Could some subscriptions fail silently if we exceed limits?
**Q2.2:** The Benzinga News Feed documentation mentions "8,000 Equities" coverage. Does this mean:
- Any US equity can have a successful subscription?
- Or only 8,000 specific equities have news coverage, and others won't receive data?
**Q2.3:** If we subscribe to a stock that Benzinga doesn't cover, what happens?
- Does `AddData()` fail with an error?
- Does it succeed but never trigger `OnData()`?
- Is there a way to check coverage before subscribing?
---
### 3. Translation and Internationalization
**Q3.1:** Does QuantConnect provide any built-in translation capabilities for news article content? Specifically:
- Can we translate `article.title` and `article.contents` to other languages (e.g., Arabic)?
- Are there any integrated translation APIs or libraries available in the cloud environment?
**Q3.2:** What Python libraries are available in the QuantConnect environment for text translation?
- Google Translate API (googletrans)?
- Deep Translator?
- Other translation libraries?
**Q3.3:** If external translation services are required, what's the recommended approach:
- Call external APIs from within the algorithm (e.g., Google Cloud Translation API)?
- Pre-process translations outside QuantConnect?
- Use a separate microservice that receives Telegram messages and translates them?
**Q3.4:** Are there any latency or networking restrictions when calling external APIs from within a live algorithm?
---
### 4. Telegram Integration Best Practices
**Q4.1:** Our current implementation uses:
```python
self.notify.telegram(
id=self.TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID,
message=message,
token=self.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN
)
```
Is this the correct and most reliable way to send Telegram messages? We previously had issues with parameter ordering.
**Q4.2:** Are there any message size limits for `notify.telegram()`? Our news alerts can be quite long with metadata.
**Q4.3:** When sending many Telegram messages in rapid succession (multiple news articles arriving simultaneously), are there:
- Rate limits we should respect?
- Recommended batching strategies?
- Risk of messages being dropped or delayed?
**Q4.4:** Is there a way to verify if a Telegram message was successfully delivered, or do we rely on the return value of `notify.telegram()`?
---
### 5. BenzingaNews Object Structure
**Q5.1:** What is the complete list of attributes available on a `BenzingaNews` article object? Documentation shows:
- `title`, `contents`, `symbols`, `categories`, `tags`, `author`, `created_at`, `updated_at`
Are there other attributes we should be aware of? For example:
- Article ID or unique identifier?
- Importance/priority score?
- Related stocks beyond the primary symbol?
- Sentiment indicators?
**Q5.2:** The `article.symbols` attribute - does this return:
- A list of ticker strings (e.g., `["AAPL", "MSFT"]`)?
- A list of Symbol objects?
- What's the exact data type?
**Q5.3:** Are `article.categories` and `article.tags` standardized lists we can rely on for classification? For example:
- Will FDA-related news consistently have "FDA" in categories or tags?
- Are there official category/tag enumerations we can reference?
---
### 6. Current Implementation Review
**Q6.1:** Based on our implementation above, are we following QuantConnect best practices for:
- News subscription management?
- Handling large numbers of subscriptions (700+ stocks)?
- Processing news articles efficiently?
**Q6.2:** We currently use:
- `OnSecuritiesChanged()` to add/remove news subscriptions
- Manual tracking with `self.news_subscriptions` set
- `OnData()` to process incoming news
Is this the recommended pattern, or is there a more efficient/reliable approach?
**Q6.3:** We're tracking subscriptions in a Python set:
```python
self.news_subscriptions = set() # Set of ticker strings
```
Should we be tracking Symbol objects instead of ticker strings for better reliability?
**Q6.4:** For a live trading algorithm monitoring 700-900 stocks, are there any memory or performance considerations we should be aware of when using Benzinga News Feed?
---
### 7. Error Handling and Reliability
**Q7.1:** If the Benzinga News Feed service experiences downtime or connectivity issues:
- Will `OnData()` stop being called?
- Will we receive any error notifications?
- How should we detect and handle such scenarios?
**Q7.2:** What happens if we miss news articles due to:
- Algorithm restart?
- Platform maintenance?
- Network issues?
Is there a way to query historical news that we might have missed (within reasonable time limits)?
**Q7.3:** Are there any health check or heartbeat mechanisms we can implement to ensure our news monitoring is functioning correctly?
---
### 8. Testing and Debugging
**Q8.1:** In backtesting mode, does `notify.telegram()` work, or is it only available in live/paper trading?
**Q8.2:** How can we test our news monitoring logic without waiting for real news to arrive? Is there a way to:
- Simulate news articles?
- Replay historical news data?
- Trigger test news events?
**Q8.3:** What's the best way to debug why certain news articles might not be received? Are there verbose logging options for data subscriptions?
---
## Summary
We want to ensure our implementation is:
1. ✅ **Reliable** - All 700+ stocks are actually monitored
2. ✅ **Verifiable** - We can confirm subscriptions are active
3. ✅ **Scalable** - No hidden limits or performance issues
4. ✅ **Maintainable** - Following QuantConnect best practices
5. ✅ **International** - Ideally with translation capabilities
Any guidance on these questions would be greatly appreciated to help us build a robust, production-ready news monitoring system.
---
**Algorithm Details:**
- Platform: QuantConnect Cloud
- Language: Python
- Data Source: Benzinga News Feed
- Target: 700-900 US equities (low-float stocks)
- Notification: Telegram via `notify.telegram()`
- Mode: Live/Paper Trading
Mia Alissi
Here's a detailed, QuantConnect-fluent response to your comprehensive Benzinga News Feed implementation queries. For each section, relevant best practices, limitations, diagnostics, and technical details are provided according to the latest (2024) QuantConnect documentation and platform behavior:
1. News Subscription Verification
Q1.1 – Q1.3: Subscription Confirmation, Verification, and Status APIs
GetDataStatus()orGetActiveSubscriptions()for programmatically verifying data subscription health or listing active dataset subscriptions at runtime (source).OnData()(i.e., actually receive news articles).OnData()will simply never be called for that symbol.Q1.4: News Silence
Q1.5: Logs/Diagnostics
AddData()/RemoveData()event yourself and periodically request history to validate liveness.2. News Data Coverage and Limitations
Q2.1: Maximum Subscriptions, Rate Limits
Q2.2: Benzinga Dataset Coverage
Q2.3: What Happens on Uncovered Stock?
AddData()will succeed syntactically.OnData()will never fire for that symbol.3. Translation and Internationalization
Q3.1–Q3.2: Built-In and Available Translation Methods
googletrans,deep-translator) are preinstalled in the research or live environments.Q3.3–Q3.4: External APIs, Networking/Latency
4. Telegram Integration Best Practices
Q4.1 – Q4.4
notify.telegram()returns a boolean (or nothing); there is no per-message delivery ack/receipt. For guaranteed delivery, relay the message to an outbound microservice and use Telegram’s official API with status checks.5. BenzingaNews Object Structure
Q5.1: Attributes
The object provides:
id(unique article ID, integer)titleauthorcreated_atandupdated_at(datetimes)teasercontentscategories(list[str])symbols(list[str], i.e., tickers)Q5.2:
symbolsAttribute Typesymbolsproperty returns a list of strings (media tickers), not Symbol objects. (["AAPL", "MSFT"]etc).Q5.3: Categories/Tags Standardization
6. Implementation Review
Q6.1–Q6.2: Patterns
Q6.3: Set of Strings vs. Symbol Objects
Symbolmapping (e.g., rev splits, symbol changes), it is best practice to track subscriptions by Symbol object, NOT strings. This preserves accuracy as tickers change.Q6.4: Large Subscription Scaling Concerns
7. Error Handling and Reliability
Q7.1: Data Feed Failures/Downtime
OnData()will stop being called for all affected symbols. There is no explicit error notification.Q7.2: Missed News (Restarts, Maintenance)
self.history(BenzingaNews, symbol, lookback, Resolution.MINUTE)request to try to “catch up” on missed news articles.Q7.3: Health Check/Heartbeat
8. Testing and Debugging
Q8.1: Telegram/Backtesting
notify.telegram()is not active in backtesting. Backtest runs will simply “no-op” (do nothing) for these calls—useself.Debug()instead.Q8.2: Simulating/Test News Articles
self.history.Q8.3: Debugging Missing Articles, Diagnostics
self.Debug) for everyAddData(),RemoveData(), andOnData()event.Summary Checklist for Production Readiness
AddData(BenzingaNews, symbol)(track by Symbol object)OnDataorself.historynotify.telegram()Let me know which area you want technical code snippets or deeper guidance on!
Sources: Benzinga News Feed - QuantConnect.com, Tiingo News Feed - QuantConnect.com
The material on this website is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation or endorsement for any security or strategy, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advisory services by QuantConnect. In addition, the material offers no opinion with respect to the suitability of any security or specific investment. QuantConnect makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the views expressed in the website. The views are subject to change, and may have become unreliable for various reasons, including changes in market conditions or economic circumstances. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. You should consult with an investment professional before making any investment decisions.
مطلق الشمري
The material on this website is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy, or a recommendation or endorsement for any security or strategy, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advisory services by QuantConnect. In addition, the material offers no opinion with respect to the suitability of any security or specific investment. QuantConnect makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of the views expressed in the website. The views are subject to change, and may have become unreliable for various reasons, including changes in market conditions or economic circumstances. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. You should consult with an investment professional before making any investment decisions.
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