# Embed a Live Crypto Portfolio Widget

> Add a live multi-chain portfolio view to any site with one iframe, no frontend build required, and when to use the raw API instead of a widget.

- **URL:** https://octav.fi/blog/embed-crypto-portfolio-widget
- **Published:** 2026-03-14
- **Author:** Octav Team — Portfolio Intelligence for Digital Assets
- **Topic:** API & Developers
- **Tags:** widget, integration, developers
- **Source:** Octav, Practical guides on crypto NAV reporting, multi-chain portfolio management and digital asset APIs, from the team behind Octav.

---
Not every portfolio integration needs a frontend project. If what you want is a
live portfolio view inside an existing product, docs site or investor page, an
iframe is enough.

[Widget Studio](https://studio.octav.fi) is a no-code builder for exactly that:
design the widget, theme it, copy one `<iframe>`.

## The three steps

1. Get an API key from [data.octav.fi](https://data.octav.fi).
2. Buy credits — from $10.
3. Paste the embed snippet.

```html
<iframe
  src="https://studio.octav.fi/embed?address=0xYourAddress&theme=light"
  width="100%"
  height="640"
  frameborder="0"
  title="Live crypto portfolio"
></iframe>
```

The widget renders the same decoded data the API returns — tokens plus
[DeFi positions](/track-defi-positions-multichain) across 50+ chains, themed to
your brand.

## When a widget is the right call

| Use a widget when | Use the [API](/crypto-portfolio-api-endpoint-reference) when |
| --- | --- |
| You want a portfolio view, not portfolio data | You need the numbers in your own logic |
| No frontend team available | You are building custom UI |
| Embedding in docs, marketing or an investor page | Feeding NAV, risk or accounting systems |
| Time-to-ship matters more than control | You need to transform or store the data |

The honest version: a widget is a display surface. The moment you need to
compute something from the data — an allocation, a P&L, a NAV — you want the
API.

## Public transparency pages

A related use is the fully public version: a page anyone can visit showing a
treasury or vault's live positions. That is what
[Transparency Dashboards](https://transparency.octav.fi) are for, covered in
[Transparency Dashboards for DeFi Treasuries](/defi-treasury-transparency-dashboards).

The distinction: a widget is a component you place inside your own page; a
transparency dashboard is a hosted page you point people at.

## Trying it without a key

[Octav Authless](https://authless.octav.fi) lets you check portfolios and
visualise transactions for any EVM address with no key and no server-side
storage. It is the fastest way to see what the decoded data looks like before
committing to an integration.

## Practical notes

**Rate limits are shared.** The widget draws on the same 360 requests/minute
per key as everything else. A widget on a high-traffic page is not free.

**Caching applies.** Portfolio data caches for one minute, so the widget is
live-ish rather than real-time. For most investor-facing pages that is the
right trade.

**Theming is per-widget.** Build one per brand context rather than trying to
restyle a single embed with CSS from the parent page — the iframe boundary will
stop you.