Live Cryptocurrency Monitor using AWS Lambda

Build a dashboard that monitors and tracks cryptocurrency prices over time! The dashboard below is about a week's worth of data. It's interactive (be sure to scroll to the right to see everything!) and mainly focused on Ethereum. Building a real-time version of this dashboard is simple and serverless - keep reading to get started.

Project difficulty:  Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy
*Note:  as AWS frequently updates their services, some steps in this tutorial may slightly differ over time

Create an Initial State account:  https://app.initialstate.com/register

Create a bucket:

• Click the  icon (Create HTTPS Bucket)
• Name your bucket whatever you want
• Check the Configure Endpoint Keys box
• Name your Bucket Key something easy like "cryptoprice"

Create an AWS account:  aws.amazon.com

Create a Lambda function:

• Under AWS Services, navigate to Lambda
• Click Get Started Now
• Select Blank Function
• On the Configure triggers page, click the empty, dashed box next to the Lambda logo
• Select "CloudWatch Events"

• In Rule, create a new rule named whatever you want -- I named mine "every-5" because I want this trigger to happen every 5 minutes
• In Rule description, briefly describe the rule
• For Schedule expression, type "rate(5 minutes)" or use a cron expression
• Do NOT select enable trigger; we will do that later

• On the Configure function page, name the function... I named mine "cryptoPrices"
• Though not necessary, feel free to write a function description
• Select Python 3.6

• Within the Lambda function code text box, paste this code
• Paste your Initial State Bucket Key and Initial State Access Key
  on Lines 6 and 7 (your Initial State Bucket and Access Keys can be found within your bucket settings)
• In Handler, type lambda_function.lambda_handler
• For Role, select "Create custom role" (this will open a new tab)
• For IAM Role, select "basic-execution"
• For Policy Name, select "Create a new Role Policy"
• Click Allow

• Now for Role, ensure "Choose an existing role" is selected
• For Existing Role, select "lambda-basic-execution"
• Leave everything else as is and click Next

• Review your work, then create your function!
• On the next page, click on **Test** in the upper right hand corner
• An Input test event box will pop up with the "Hello World" sample event template
• Leave that as is and click Save and Test

• If it says Execution result: failed it is OK. Check Initial State to see if any data came in and make sure the error was from exiting before completion. The function is working - I just added an exit to keep it from waiting forever and then failing on a timeout.
• On the Triggers tab, select Enable
• You just created a Lambda function! Cryptocurrency data will now stream to your Initial State bucket every 5 minutes.

Here's what my current Cryptocurrency dashboard looks like - it's been live since June 23:

If you want to know how to display things like overall change in value or trend, check out real-time expressions and emoji support.