I wonder how practical it might be to adapt the old/dead Stock Quote widget to use the ETrade API to harvest market data. That API also handles a lot of other stuff related to specific ETrade accounts and trading, but that wouldn't be necessary here: just the market data by ticker symbol.
The ETrade API uses OAUTH to validate access to a specific ETrade account, but I think it is possible to set up an ETrade account without actually funding it for trade (or paying any fees), so that might not necessarily be a huge hurdle, at least for USA users. I suppose the same kind of gymnastics now used for the Google Calender widgets could be employed for login/authorization.
Info here: https://us.etrade.com/active-trading/api
and the API document here: https://content.etrade.com/etrade/estat … tation.pdf
A couple of things jumped out at me. One is the limited lifespan of the authorization token, but that can be renewed so long as the widget keeps track of doing so when needed. The other is request throttling, but the rates don't appear to be terribly low given that a multiple ticker symbols' market data can be acquired with a single request (which is counted as one request: they give this example specifically).
Oh, also: "The platform is free for developers to use." See https://developer.etrade.com/ctnt/dev-p … pport-FAQs However, I wonder how enthusiastic they will be about an application that does not enable trading, just market monitoring.
Anyway: there's a thought.