To get real-time crypto prices in OpenClaw, run `clawhub install crypto-price` — no API key required for basic usage. The skill connects to public cryptocurrency price feeds and lets you check current prices, historical data, and market stats for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and thousands of altcoins by simply asking in OpenClaw chat.
Check Real-Time Crypto Prices and Market Data from OpenClaw Chat
Cryptocurrency prices move fast and checking them means constantly switching between apps, browser tabs, and trading platforms. The Crypto Price skill brings live market data directly into OpenClaw, letting you check prices, compare coins, and monitor market movements in plain language without leaving your workflow.
What distinguishes this skill from other crypto tools is the zero-configuration entry point: CoinGecko's public API provides free access to price data for over 10,000 coins without authentication. Install the skill and you're immediately querying BTC, ETH, SOL, or any token you care about — no sign-up, no API key, no dashboard to configure. The skill returns current price in your preferred fiat currency, 24-hour price change (absolute and percentage), market capitalization, and 24-hour trading volume by default.
For users who query crypto prices frequently or build automated price-monitoring workflows, configuring an optional CoinGecko API key removes rate limit constraints and unlocks additional endpoints like OHLC data, exchange-level volume breakdowns, and on-chain metrics. But for most use cases — checking prices before a trade, staying aware of market conditions, or tracking a watchlist — the anonymous tier is more than sufficient.
Integration method
The Crypto Price skill is a native ClawHub integration that queries public cryptocurrency price APIs — primarily CoinGecko's free public endpoint — without requiring API credentials for basic usage. Install it once and immediately ask OpenClaw for any coin's current price, 24-hour change, market cap, and trading volume. For higher rate limits, an optional CoinGecko API key can be configured.
Prerequisites
- OpenClaw installed and running (see openclaw.ai for installation instructions)
- ClawHub CLI available in your terminal (bundled with OpenClaw)
- Internet access for live price data (no account or API key required for basic usage)
- Optional: CoinGecko account at coingecko.com for API key to increase rate limits
Step-by-step guide
Install the Crypto Price Skill via ClawHub
Install the Crypto Price Skill via ClawHub
Open your terminal and run the ClawHub install command. The Crypto Price skill is one of the simplest to install — it has no required configuration, so after the install completes, you can immediately start querying prices from OpenClaw chat. The installation downloads the skill package, validates it against the ClawHub registry, and registers it with your local OpenClaw instance. The confirmation message will note that API credentials are optional — this means the skill is ready to use without any further setup. If you see a `clawhub: command not found` error, verify your OpenClaw installation path and ensure ClawHub is on your system PATH. Reinstalling OpenClaw from openclaw.ai will restore the binary if it's missing.
1clawhub install crypto-pricePro tip: Run `clawhub info crypto-price` to see what data fields the skill returns by default and what optional configuration is available before you start querying.
Expected result: Terminal confirms: 'crypto-price@X.X.X installed successfully. No required config — optional: COINGECKO_API_KEY'. The skill is immediately ready to use.
Query Real-Time Prices from OpenClaw Chat
Query Real-Time Prices from OpenClaw Chat
Open OpenClaw chat and ask for a cryptocurrency price in plain language. The Crypto Price skill activates automatically when OpenClaw detects a price query — you can ask by coin name, ticker symbol, or describe what you want to know about the market. The skill returns price data in the format most useful for your query. For a simple price check, you get the current price and 24-hour change. For a full market data request, you get price, market cap, volume, 24-hour high/low, and percentage change. Prices are denominated in USD by default. Ask for prices in other currencies by specifying them in your prompt — 'Bitcoin price in EUR and GBP' works as expected. CoinGecko supports over 100 fiat and cryptocurrency denominations. The anonymous CoinGecko API has a rate limit of approximately 10-30 requests per minute. For casual use this is never an issue. If you're building a monitoring workflow that polls prices every few seconds, configure the optional API key.
Get the current price of Bitcoin and Ethereum in USD. Include the 24-hour price change percentage and current market cap for both.
Paste this in OpenClaw chat
Pro tip: You can ask about coins by their full name or ticker symbol interchangeably — 'Bitcoin', 'BTC', 'bitcoin', and 'btc' all work. For lesser-known tokens, using the full name reduces ambiguity.
Expected result: OpenClaw returns current BTC and ETH prices in USD with 24-hour change percentages and market cap figures. The data reflects live market prices, accurate to within a few minutes.
Optional: Configure CoinGecko API Key for Higher Rate Limits
Optional: Configure CoinGecko API Key for Higher Rate Limits
CoinGecko offers a free API key tier that provides higher rate limits than anonymous access and unlocks additional endpoints. If you plan to check crypto prices frequently, run scheduled price monitoring, or need OHLC (open/high/low/close) candlestick data, getting a CoinGecko API key is worthwhile. Go to coingecko.com, create a free account, and navigate to the Developer Dashboard (accessible from your account menu). Click 'Create Demo Key' to generate a free API key. CoinGecko's Demo tier provides 10,000 calls per month with a 30-call-per-minute rate limit — well above anonymous limits. Add the key to your OpenClaw configuration using `clawhub config set` or by editing your `.env` file. After reloading, the skill automatically uses authenticated requests when the key is present.
1# Add to ~/.openclaw/.env2COINGECKO_API_KEY=CG-your-api-key-here34# Or set via clawhub config5clawhub config set COINGECKO_API_KEY CG-your-api-key-here67# Verify and reload8clawhub config get COINGECKO_API_KEY9clawhub reloadPro tip: CoinGecko API keys start with 'CG-'. The Demo tier is free and requires no credit card. If you find yourself regularly hitting rate limit errors during active market hours, the Demo key resolves this immediately.
Expected result: After setting the API key and reloading, price queries return faster and rate limit errors stop occurring. Additional data fields like OHLC and exchange breakdowns become available.
Advanced Usage: Price Monitoring and Market Alerts
Advanced Usage: Price Monitoring and Market Alerts
Beyond one-off price checks, the Crypto Price skill enables ongoing market monitoring workflows. You can ask OpenClaw to watch a coin's price over a session, compare multiple coins' relative performance, or pull historical price data to give context to current market conditions. **Historical comparisons**: Ask for a coin's price 7 days ago, 30 days ago, and today to understand the trend. OpenClaw can calculate percentage changes and contextualize whether current prices are near highs or lows. **Multi-coin comparisons**: Compare several coins' 24-hour performance side by side. Useful for deciding where to focus attention in a moving market. **DeFi token pricing**: CoinGecko covers not just major exchanges but also DeFi tokens, NFT-related tokens, and newly launched coins — ask for prices by contract address if the token isn't in CoinGecko's name database yet. RapidDev can help you configure automated crypto price monitoring workflows in OpenClaw — for example, a daily portfolio summary delivered to your Slack or email each morning using the Crypto Price skill alongside a messaging skill.
Compare the 7-day performance of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. Show me the price 7 days ago, the price today, and the percentage change for each. Which one performed best this week?
Paste this in OpenClaw chat
1# Optional skill config2# ~/.openclaw/skills/crypto-price.yaml3crypto-price:4 default_currency: usd # default fiat currency for prices5 default_coins: # coins to include in portfolio snapshots6 - bitcoin7 - ethereum8 - solana9 include_volume: true # include 24h volume in default responses10 include_market_cap: true # include market cap in default responsesPro tip: Pair the Crypto Price skill with Polymarket or Polymarket Odds to combine live market data with prediction market probabilities — useful for gauging community expectations alongside raw price movements.
Expected result: OpenClaw returns a clean comparison table showing 7-day price changes for all three coins, with the top performer clearly identified.
Common use cases
Portfolio Snapshot on Demand
Ask OpenClaw to pull current prices for the coins in your portfolio and calculate your current holdings value. This gives you an instant snapshot without needing to open an exchange or portfolio tracker.
I hold 0.5 BTC, 3.2 ETH, and 150 SOL. Get the current prices for all three and calculate my total portfolio value in USD. Also show the 24-hour percentage change for each.
Copy this prompt to try it in OpenClaw
Pre-Trade Market Check
Before placing an order on an exchange, ask OpenClaw to pull current prices and recent market statistics. This gives you context on where the market is before you act.
Get the current price of Ethereum in USD and EUR, its 24-hour high and low, market cap, and 24-hour volume. Also compare ETH's 24-hour change to BTC's 24-hour change.
Copy this prompt to try it in OpenClaw
Market-Wide Overview
Ask OpenClaw for a quick overview of the overall crypto market including total market cap, BTC dominance, and the top movers of the day. Useful for a morning briefing before making trading decisions.
Give me a crypto market overview: total market cap, Bitcoin dominance percentage, top 5 coins by 24-hour price change (gainers), and bottom 3 coins by 24-hour change (losers) from the top 100 by market cap.
Copy this prompt to try it in OpenClaw
Troubleshooting
OpenClaw returns 'crypto-price: rate limit exceeded' or 429 errors during price queries
Cause: CoinGecko's anonymous API allows approximately 10-30 requests per minute. High-frequency queries or monitoring workflows can exceed this limit quickly during volatile market periods.
Solution: Configure a free CoinGecko API key to increase rate limits. The Demo tier (free) provides 30 calls per minute. Alternatively, reduce the frequency of price queries if running automated monitoring.
1clawhub config set COINGECKO_API_KEY CG-your-api-key-here2clawhub reloadPrice for a specific token is not found or returns 'coin not found'
Cause: The token may not be listed on CoinGecko, or the name/symbol provided doesn't match CoinGecko's database. Some very new or obscure tokens have different names in CoinGecko than their commonly used symbols.
Solution: Try the token's full name instead of the ticker, or search CoinGecko's website (coingecko.com) to find the exact name string the API expects. You can also provide the contract address for ERC-20 and other on-chain tokens.
clawhub install crypto-price fails with a timeout or registry error
Cause: Temporary ClawHub registry availability issue.
Solution: Wait 2-3 minutes and retry. Use `--force` to clear any partial installation state.
1clawhub install crypto-price --forcePrices returned seem delayed — not reflecting real-time market movements
Cause: CoinGecko's free tier updates prices every 60 seconds. During highly volatile periods, this can feel like a lag versus exchange order book data.
Solution: This is expected behavior for the CoinGecko free API — it provides aggregated prices updated on a regular interval, not tick-by-tick data. For real-time trading decisions, verify prices on your exchange directly. The skill is best for monitoring and awareness, not for split-second trading.
Best practices
- No API key is needed for basic usage — install the skill and start querying immediately without any configuration barrier.
- Configure a free CoinGecko Demo API key if you run automated price monitoring or check prices more than a few times per minute during active sessions.
- Specify the fiat currency in price queries when you need non-USD prices — the skill defaults to USD but supports any major currency.
- Use coin names instead of tickers for lesser-known tokens to avoid ambiguity — 'Chainlink' is unambiguous whereas 'LINK' could match multiple tokens.
- For portfolio tracking, list your holdings explicitly in the prompt along with quantities so OpenClaw can calculate total values in one query.
- Pair the Crypto Price skill with the Polymarket Odds skill to combine market data with community prediction probabilities for a more complete market picture.
- Remember that CoinGecko prices are aggregated from multiple exchanges and updated on an interval — for active trading, always verify execution prices on your exchange directly.
Alternatives
Polymarket provides prediction market odds on crypto events (e.g., 'will BTC reach $100k?') — use it alongside Crypto Price for community sentiment alongside raw price data.
Polymarket Odds is focused on reading market probabilities for specific events — complementary to Crypto Price when you want to understand market expectations beyond current price.
Hyperliquid provides DEX-level trading data including perpetual futures positions and order books — more detailed than CoinGecko spot prices for active traders.
Technical Analyst provides chart patterns, indicators, and technical analysis on top of price data — use it when you need TA signals rather than just raw prices.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install Crypto Price in OpenClaw?
Run `clawhub install crypto-price` in your terminal. No API key is required — the skill immediately connects to CoinGecko's public API and you can start checking prices from OpenClaw chat. For higher rate limits, optionally configure a free CoinGecko Demo API key from coingecko.com.
Does the OpenClaw Crypto Price skill require an API key?
No. The skill uses CoinGecko's public anonymous API by default, which requires no account or API key. An optional CoinGecko API key can be configured for higher rate limits (COINGECKO_API_KEY), but the skill works immediately without it for most use cases.
How many cryptocurrencies does the Crypto Price skill support?
The skill supports all coins and tokens listed on CoinGecko — over 10,000 as of 2026. This covers all major cryptocurrencies, most altcoins, and many DeFi tokens. You can look up coins by name, ticker symbol, or contract address for tokens not in CoinGecko's name database.
Does RapidDev help with automated crypto price monitoring in OpenClaw?
Yes — RapidDev can help configure scheduled price monitoring workflows that deliver portfolio summaries to Slack or email, trigger alerts when prices cross thresholds, or feed crypto data into broader financial analysis workflows. The basic price querying described here is self-serve, but automated pipelines benefit from a structured setup.
Why is the OpenClaw crypto price skill showing a different price than my exchange?
CoinGecko shows aggregated prices averaged across multiple exchanges, updated on a 60-second interval. Your exchange shows its own order book price in real time. Small discrepancies are normal, especially on volatile coins. Large discrepancies could indicate CoinGecko is temporarily showing stale data — wait a minute and query again.
Can I track a crypto portfolio value using OpenClaw?
Yes — provide your holdings (coin names and quantities) in the prompt and ask OpenClaw to calculate total portfolio value using the Crypto Price skill. For example: 'I hold 0.5 BTC and 3 ETH. What is the current total value in USD?' OpenClaw will pull current prices and calculate your portfolio value in one response.
Talk to an Expert
Our team has built 600+ apps. Get personalized help with your project.
Book a free consultation