Is there an API that is easy to set up that can get me intraday historical prices or can record live data so I can create my own database straight into excel. Purchasing from most companies is not feasible for individual trader due to the high cost...
On IB right click in option trader on a strike and then choose chart. Maybe that data is available via the IB API.
For capturing live data, you may use TOS (RTD). IMO: The cost of purchasing the data, is not the largest obstacle... Cleaning of the data, and size can make the cost a much smaller issue.