Price-feed due diligence: measure freshness, coverage and failure
Feed selection needs reproducible tests, not a best-case speed claim. Compare instrument coverage, quote freshness, data gaps, spread behavior and recovery under the same market conditions.
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WFN QUICK BRIEF · UNDER 1 MIN
The short version
MODE 2 OF 2
The record
A vendor may distribute quotes from one or more sources and normalise them for downstream systems.
Market context
Record source and receipt timestamps, update intervals, sequence gaps, spread behavior and stale-quote duration.
What remains open
Request source transparency, maintenance notices, incident history, support escalation and evidence of resilience.
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A price feed is part of a broader data and execution path. A vendor comparison should show what was measured, at which endpoint and during which market conditions.
INTERACTIVE STORY MAP
Follow the evidence
Trace how the event could reach markets, then inspect a competing explanation.
A price feed is part of a broader data and execution path. A vendor comparison should show what was measured, at which endpoint and during which market conditions.
TWO READS, ONE EVENT
Compare explanations
Switch lenses to see what each account explains—and what remains uncertain.
Compare high-percentile outcomes, gaps and recovery
Record source and receipt timestamps, update intervals, sequence gaps, spread behavior and stale-quote duration. Synchronise clocks and test multiple instruments, endpoints and market periods, including scheduled high-activity windows. Look beyond an average latency figure. Tail behavior and recovery after a disconnect can matter more to operations than a single best-case number. Keep test parameters with the results so a second team can reproduce them.
Compare high-percentile outcomes, gaps and recovery
Record source and receipt timestamps, update intervals, sequence gaps, spread behavior and stale-quote duration. Synchronise clocks and test multiple instruments, endpoints and market periods, including scheduled high-activity windows. Look beyond an average latency figure. Tail behavior and recovery after a disconnect can matter more to operations than a single best-case number. Keep test parameters with the results so a second team can reproduce them.
Ask who controls the source and how disputes are investigated
Request source transparency, maintenance notices, incident history, support escalation and evidence of resilience. Clarify what happens when one upstream contributor widens, pauses or stops sending data. A low headline price or a fast connection does not guarantee accurate quotes or better client outcomes. Compare contractual terms, data rights, auditability and a documented fallback before selecting a provider.
01 · WHAT A FEED PROVIDES
Coverage and freshness are separate from order execution
A vendor may distribute quotes from one or more sources and normalise them for downstream systems. The broker still needs to understand instrument definitions, session coverage, timestamps and how stale or out-of-sequence updates are handled.
The time to receive a quote is not the time to acknowledge or fill an order. Treat market-data delivery and order execution as separate paths with separate evidence.
02 · TEST THE SAME CONDITIONS
Compare high-percentile outcomes, gaps and recovery
Record source and receipt timestamps, update intervals, sequence gaps, spread behavior and stale-quote duration. Synchronise clocks and test multiple instruments, endpoints and market periods, including scheduled high-activity windows.
Look beyond an average latency figure. Tail behavior and recovery after a disconnect can matter more to operations than a single best-case number. Keep test parameters with the results so a second team can reproduce them.
03 · VENDOR REVIEW
Ask who controls the source and how disputes are investigated
Request source transparency, maintenance notices, incident history, support escalation and evidence of resilience. Clarify what happens when one upstream contributor widens, pauses or stops sending data.
A low headline price or a fast connection does not guarantee accurate quotes or better client outcomes. Compare contractual terms, data rights, auditability and a documented fallback before selecting a provider.
MARKET CONTEXTWFN EDITION · 23 SEPTEMBER 2026
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WFN REALITY LEDGER
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This educational explainer does not report a single event with a separately maintained fact-check record.
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No separate WFN source-check date or verification scope is recorded for this article. The publication date is not a fact-check date.
Version history
This Ledger entry was checked on 25 September 2026. Article metadata also lists an update on 25 September 2026, but earlier text changes are not itemized here.
TRANSPARENT EDITORIAL HISTORYWhat changed?Updated 25 September 2026 · details not itemized⌄
First published
The article metadata records a later update, but its individual edits are not itemized. WFN does not infer the change from the date alone.
Official event developments and source checks are tracked separately in the WFN Reality Ledger.
