Finding Data Vendors and Negotiating Redistribution Licenses
Summary
The discussion considers how to obtain market data that can legally be redistributed through a website or other service. It emphasizes that buying data does not automatically grant resale or sharing rights, and that licensing terms must be part of vendor selection. One suggestion is to approach vendors directly with a proposal to present a limited or processed version of their data, link users to the vendor, and offer visibility in return for flexible terms. Smaller or niche providers may be more open to such arrangements.
The answers mention several possible sources, including an exchange distributor, a historical-data service priced by query volume, exchange-provided end-of-day or last-sale data, and a redistributor used by an online service. These are examples rather than a verified or current vendor comparison. The discussion cautions that permission for basic feeds may not extend to historical or Level 2 data, and that exchange licensing can be costly or restrictive. The best source depends on the data required and the intended use; prospective distributors should confirm rights and costs directly with vendors.
Key ideas
- Redistribution rights depend on the license, so purchasing data alone may not authorize resale or public display.
- Vendors may negotiate flexible terms when a distributor offers useful exposure or referrals.
- Exchange data licensing can be costly, particularly for detailed market depth or historical records.
- The appropriate data source depends on the data type and the intended distribution model.
- Vendor names and prices in the discussion are anecdotal examples, not a current market survey.
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Full text
# Which data service to buy for redistributable data? # Which data service to buy for redistributable data? This is a follow-up to my previous question regarding anyone whom wanted to 'donate' data. So far no one has stepped up (learning more about buying and selling data, I realize that I'm going to have to buy the data if I want to re-sell it, or give it away for that matter - re: licensing agreements?) So I'm trying to determine a good source for data with a relatively flexible licensing agreement. So far the first place I've found is the CME's distributor's service @ ~$12,000/yr starting. If you sell historical data, know of data-feeds, etc., please let me know. I'll add it to this list, and we can discuss the pluses and negatives. ## Answer by hroptatyr (score 5, accepted) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/1425 I think you're addressing the wrong people. What I'd do is to talk to the data vendors' marketing departments, much like I'm sure http://www.wikiposit.org/ has done. Tell them you would like to offer (an excerpt of) their data, in a unified/post-processed form, you would be willing to include links back to their sales website, or praise the vendors somehow, e.g. have a voting system for the quality of the data. I'm not a data vendor but I'm sure as long as you make it look like that's the best form of advertising they've ever had you should be able to negotiate a licensing model that allows you to at least show the data on your website. I imagine this works particularly well with smaller or niche data providers. ## Answer by Ami Heines (score 5) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/1432 xignite seems like a cheaper option for historical data at around $6,000 per year. I am not a client (yet) so I can't give my opinion but it looks good to me. They have a long list of services, a free trial period and interesting pricing model based on the number of queries you send them. If you do use them, let us all know. ## Answer by Steve Severance (score 3) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/2236 It isn't clear from this post or your last post what data you want and what you want it for. The only thing you are going to get permission to distribute is the higher level data feeds like EOD data, or last sale (probably can't offer history). Exchanges typically have this information available on their websites, for instance NASDAQ Basic pricing. If you want to do something like put Level 2 data up on a website for anyone to look at I think you are going to find it hard to get someone to give you a license to do that. Any exchange that would give you a license would do it in a way that would put you out of business before the ink on the contract was dry. If you want to be in the data vending business, sign some agreements with the exchanges, hire some sales people and get selling. ## Answer by laq (score 0) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/11348 A few companies offer data for redistribution at more reasonable prices than directly from the exchange. A few years back I worked on a project for an online service and they chose QuoteMedia for their back-end feed.
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