MarketData

Market data refers to information generated by financial markets, including real-time quotes, trades, order flow, and reference data for securities and derivatives. It covers data produced by exchanges, alternative trading venues, market makers, and liquidity providers, as well as consolidated feeds from third-party vendors. Real-time market data typically includes bid and ask prices, last traded price, trade size, and timestamps, delivered via feeds and application programming interfaces. Historical data and reference data provide price histories, intraday series, corporate actions, instrument identifiers, and other metadata used to identify and describe financial instruments.

Types of market data include price and quote data, trade and transaction data, order book depth, time and sales, and reference data. Market data also carries quality indicators and latency information to help users assess timeliness and accuracy. Data is commonly organized into intraday feeds, end-of-day summaries, and specialized datasets for market microstructure analysis, such as depth-of-book or consolidated tape products in some regions.

Market data supports a range of activities, from price discovery and live trading decisions to research, backtesting, risk management, and regulatory reporting. Users include traders, asset managers, quantitative researchers, and compliance teams who rely on timely and accurate information to benchmark performance, validate strategies, and monitor market activity.

Provision and access arrangements vary. Data originates from exchanges and other venues and is distributed directly or through licensed vendors. Licensing, pricing models, and redistribution rights differ by region and data type, and regulatory considerations can influence accessibility and costs. Data quality, coverage, and latency remain central concerns for market participants.