VOL. XCIV, NO. 247

★ FINANCIAL TOOLS & SERVICES DIRECTORY ★

PRICE: 5 CENTS

Monday, October 13, 2025

View U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)View Unusual Whales Back to Home

Head-to-head

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) vs Unusual Whales comparison

Compare pricing, supported platforms, categories, and standout capabilities to decide which tool fits your workflow.

Quick takeaways

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) adds GDP, and Inflation Rates coverage that Unusual Whales skips.

Unusual Whales includes Screeners, Options & Derivatives, Portfolio, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, Alerts, News, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, Education, and Dividends categories that U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) omits.

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) highlights: Free REST API with JSON or XML responses, plus meta‑data methods (dataset list, parameter list/values); browser use supported via CORS/JSONP., Official datasets: NIPA/GDP, NI underlying detail, personal income & outlays (incl. PCE price indexes), Fixed Assets, International Transactions (ITA), International Investment Position (IIP), GDP by Industry, and Regional accounts., and API key (36‑character UserID) with documented throttling: 100 requests/min OR 100 MB/min OR 30 errors/min; throttled requests return HTTP 429 with Retry‑After (~1‑hour timeout)..

Unusual Whales is known for: Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy., Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones., and Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals..

Unusual Whales offers mobile access, which U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) skips.

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

bea.gov

Official U.S. macroeconomic statistics publisher (U.S. Dept. of Commerce). Offers free interactive tables (iTables) and a REST API with JSON/XML output for GDP, PCE/inflation, personal income/outlays, international transactions (ITA), international investment position (IIP), fixed assets, GDP by industry, and regional accounts. The API requires a 36‑character key and enforces throttling (100 requests/min or 100 MB/min; 429 with Retry‑After). A public release calendar is available (ICS/JSON).

Platforms

Web

API

Pricing

Free

Quick highlights

Free REST API with JSON or XML responses, plus meta‑data methods (dataset list, parameter list/values); browser use supported via CORS/JSONP.
Official datasets: NIPA/GDP, NI underlying detail, personal income & outlays (incl. PCE price indexes), Fixed Assets, International Transactions (ITA), International Investment Position (IIP), GDP by Industry, and Regional accounts.
API key (36‑character UserID) with documented throttling: 100 requests/min OR 100 MB/min OR 30 errors/min; throttled requests return HTTP 429 with Retry‑After (~1‑hour timeout).
Interactive Data Tables (iTables) for building custom tables; download as CSV, Excel, or PDF.
Release Schedule provides machine‑readable calendar feeds (ICS/JSON) and shows planned 8:30/10:00 a.m. release times.

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Unusual Whales

unusualwhales.com

Editor’s pick Hands-on review

Real-time options flow and dark-pool analytics built for active traders. Free plans view delayed data; paid tiers stream live flow, with annual plans unlocking data downloads. The public API is sold separately, and “Periscope” (market-wide SPX exposure) is available as an add-on.

Platforms

Web

Mobile

API

Pricing

Free

Subscription

Quick highlights

Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.
Paper trading for both stocks and options to test ideas without risk.

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0% upvotes 0% downvotes

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Overlap

Shared focus areas

3 overlaps

Mutual strengths include Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, and Calendar.

Where they differ

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

Distinct strengths include:

GDP

Inflation Rates

Free REST API with JSON or XML responses, plus meta‑data methods (dataset list, parameter list/values); browser use supported via CORS/JSONP.
Official datasets: NIPA/GDP, NI underlying detail, personal income & outlays (incl. PCE price indexes), Fixed Assets, International Transactions (ITA), International Investment Position (IIP), GDP by Industry, and Regional accounts.
API key (36‑character UserID) with documented throttling: 100 requests/min OR 100 MB/min OR 30 errors/min; throttled requests return HTTP 429 with Retry‑After (~1‑hour timeout).
Interactive Data Tables (iTables) for building custom tables; download as CSV, Excel, or PDF.

Unusual Whales

Distinct strengths include:

Screeners

Options & Derivatives

Portfolio

Paper Trading

Dark Pool & Off-Exchange

Alerts

News

US Government Trades

Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy.
Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones.
Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals.
Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L.

Feature-by-feature breakdown

Attribute	U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)	Unusual Whales
Categories Which research workflows each platform targets	Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, Calendar Unique: GDP, Inflation Rates	Shared: Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, Calendar Unique: Screeners, Options & Derivatives, Portfolio, Paper Trading, Dark Pool & Off-Exchange, Alerts, News, US Government Trades, Insider Data, 13F, Education, Dividends
Asset types Supported asset classes and universes	Other	Stocks, ETFs, Options
Experience levels Who each product is built for	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Platforms Where you can access the product	Web, API	Web, Mobile, API
Pricing High-level pricing models	Free	Free, Subscription
Key features Core capabilities called out by each vendor	Unique Free REST API with JSON or XML responses, plus meta‑data methods (dataset list, parameter list/values); browser use supported via CORS/JSONP. Official datasets: NIPA/GDP, NI underlying detail, personal income & outlays (incl. PCE price indexes), Fixed Assets, International Transactions (ITA), International Investment Position (IIP), GDP by Industry, and Regional accounts. API key (36‑character UserID) with documented throttling: 100 requests/min OR 100 MB/min OR 30 errors/min; throttled requests return HTTP 429 with Retry‑After (~1‑hour timeout). Interactive Data Tables (iTables) for building custom tables; download as CSV, Excel, or PDF. Release Schedule provides machine‑readable calendar feeds (ICS/JSON) and shows planned 8:30/10:00 a.m. release times. Official open‑source SDKs/tools: R package (bea.R) and a Python helper (beaapi) on BEA’s GitHub.	Unique Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy. Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones. Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals. Options Profit Calculator to model multi-leg strategies, Greeks, and payoff P/L. Paper trading for both stocks and options to test ideas without risk. Portfolio Manager with broker linking for IBKR, tastytrade, Fidelity, and Robinhood.
Tested Verified by hands-on testing inside Find My Moat	Not yet	Yes
Editor pick Featured inside curated shortlists	Standard listing	Highlighted

Frequently Asked Questions

Which workflows do U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and Unusual Whales both support?

Both platforms cover Data APIs, APIs & SDKs, and Calendar workflows, so you can research those use cases in either tool before digging into the feature differences below.

Do U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and Unusual Whales require subscriptions?

Both U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and Unusual Whales keep freemium access with optional paid upgrades, so you can trial each platform before committing.

Which tool has mobile access?

Unusual Whales ships a dedicated mobile experience, while U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) focuses on web or desktop access.

What unique strengths set the two platforms apart?

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) differentiates itself with Free REST API with JSON or XML responses, plus meta‑data methods (dataset list, parameter list/values); browser use supported via CORS/JSONP., Official datasets: NIPA/GDP, NI underlying detail, personal income & outlays (incl. PCE price indexes), Fixed Assets, International Transactions (ITA), International Investment Position (IIP), GDP by Industry, and Regional accounts., and API key (36‑character UserID) with documented throttling: 100 requests/min OR 100 MB/min OR 30 errors/min; throttled requests return HTTP 429 with Retry‑After (~1‑hour timeout)., whereas Unusual Whales stands out for Live options flow across all US options exchanges, with a status indicator so you know the feed is healthy., Dark-pool tape plus ‘Dark Pool Levels’ to surface recent prints and ticker-specific liquidity zones., and Options and stock screeners with filters for premium, volume, open interest, IV rank, and common technicals..

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