# How to Get Steam Community Market Sale Volume

> `POST /v1/archive/steam` returns native Steam purchase `volume` paired with median sale `price`, daily from April 26, 2013 and hourly from May 9, 2026.

Purchase volume counts completed sales in each native Steam bucket. It is different from the current `ask_volume` and `bid_volume`, which count active orders.

## Steam volume coverage

At `1d`, the archive covers daily purchase counts from April 26, 2013. At `1h`, it covers hourly counts from May 9, 2026. Each bucket includes:

| Field | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| `bucket` | Native Steam interval start |
| `price` | Median completed-sale price |
| `volume` | Number of purchases |

The archive refreshes every 8 hours for liquid items and daily for other items. Prices are USD Steam wallet value.

## Query purchase counts

Send up to 100 exact regular `market_hash_name` values to `POST /v1/archive/steam` with an inclusive start, exclusive end, and `1h` or `1d` interval. Sum `volume` across the desired buckets to calculate purchases over the range.

Keep the median `price` beside volume when comparing active and quiet periods. Multiplying the median by purchases does not recover exact traded value because the individual transaction prices are not returned.

For current order counts, use `GET /v1/prices/latest`. For per-level quantities, use the [full Steam orderbook](/resources/how-to-get-steam-market-orderbook).

## Applicable endpoints

| Endpoint | Returns | Plans |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `POST /v1/archive/steam` | Native purchase volume and median sale price | Scale, Enterprise |
| `GET /v1/prices/latest` | Current top-of-book order counts | All plans |
| `GET /v1/market/steam/latest` | Quantity at every orderbook level | All plans |

## Volume caveats

- Daily and hourly start dates differ. Hourly requests before May 9, 2026 return no hourly sale buckets.
- Archive `volume` is purchases; current `ask_volume` and `bid_volume` are active orders.
- The archive supports regular items only. Variant requests return `unsupported_variant`.
- Missing buckets should not be converted to zero unless the downstream method explicitly defines that transformation.
- Steam sale prices are wallet value even when purchase volume is used as a direct activity signal.

The [Steam archive docs](/docs/api-reference/archive-steam) provide the complete response and partial-success behavior.