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Yahoo Finance Close and Adjusted Close Values

Article Quant Q&A · Author: Michael
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Summary

The document addresses why historical values from Yahoo Finance’s API may differ from those shown in its interactive chart. The answer focuses on the distinction between Close and Adjusted Close: the chart may display adjusted values that account for events such as dividends, stock splits, and other corporate actions, while an API result may be using the unadjusted closing price. Comparing unlike fields can therefore create apparent discrepancies even when the underlying dates and instrument are aligned.

The question also notes a difference between the symbols GSPC and ^GSPC, so symbol selection is another factor to check. The excerpt offers a brief diagnosis rather than a full guide to the API, adjustment method, or symbol conventions. It provides no worked numerical example, and users should verify the selected ticker, price field, date range, and corporate-action treatment when reconciling chart and API data.

Key ideas

  • Yahoo’s Close and Adjusted Close fields can report different historical values.
  • Adjusted Close accounts for dividends, splits, and other corporate events.
  • The chart and API comparison should use the same symbol and price field.
  • The excerpt does not detail Yahoo’s adjustment calculations or resolve all symbol conventions.

Tags

EquitiesBacktestingStatistics
Full text
# Why are Yahoo Finance API values different from the web interface?


# Why are Yahoo Finance API values different from the web interface?












(SOLVED: Solution is below the second graph)

The API results on `GSPC`:

Same period in the interactive chart of `^GSPC`:

## SOLVED

Apparently, Yahoo Finance API has different results for `^GSPC` and `GSPC`.

## Answer by Chinmay Nerurkar (score 1)

https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/26011

Are you looking at the actual Close values or the Adjusted Close values in the API values? The Interactive chart shows the `Adjusted Close` values which account for dividends/splits/other corporate events. More on how `Adjusted Close` is calculated from actual `Close` here.

Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Stack Exchange)

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.