- David Easthope, Market Structure and Technology, Coalition Greenwich
- Matthew Nurse, Head Market Data, Financial Information, SIX
David Easthope: Well, here we are again. My name is David Easthope. I am very pleased to be working on this research again with SIX for three years in a row and participating in our upcoming webinar. One of the key benefits of working with SIX over a series of years is that we get to uncover interesting key trends, changes, and insights. We are very excited about this upcoming research. There are a number of key highlights that we think you should know, which will benefit market data experts and market data professionals across the buy side.
One of those first key trends is the continued rise of real-time data, which is becoming more frequently adopted by the buy side. This is where we are seeing many interesting developments. Most importantly, real-time data is moving beyond trade execution into new workflows, including analytics, risk, and compliance. Real-time data and spending are expensive. Over time, firms are raising their budgets, and we see a continued trend where overall spending on market data—including real-time data—is projected to rise yet again. This trend echoes our 2023 and 2024 results.
David Easthope: This year, we see nearly 70% of respondents anticipating an increase in their budgeted spending. This is truly across the board. However, we also see specific data sets receiving unique allocations, such as risk and regulatory data, index data, tick history, and crypto data. Matt, there are many interesting insights around real-time as well as overall spending on market data.
Matthew Nurse: Yes, thanks David. Data flows through most workflows in the buy side and is often overlooked by other technologies, FinTechs, and platforms. Honestly, everything has to function with data. Seeing these results and having the last three years of trends is super interesting. Three things that stand out for me are the intersection of technology and data, cloud, and APIs. They are reshaping the way market data is consumed. 60% of the firms in the study are now receiving data via public cloud or cloud platforms. The range and availability of sources for data are increasing, and we are seeing a shift toward more scalable, flexible, and cost-effective delivery methods.
You mentioned a couple of data sets that have peaked in terms of interest. Another one that emerged in the study is tick history. There was a significant leaning toward risk and regulatory data sets. Tick history is relevant because we see high demand for high-quality tick data, specifically for surveillance, compliance, and longer-term back-testing. Interestingly, firms are willing to pay for more data rather than necessarily replacing one data set with another. Having high quality and multiple data sets in that area is key for existing workflows and solutions.
As the headline suggests, we are still in an era where many people are adopting AI. AI works directly with data; data is the direct input for the output from AI. In the buy side, it is extremely important to have the right quality and data to inform and make workflows work. What is interesting about the results this time is that while there is greater adoption of AI with market data, there remains a human-centric and judgment-based approach to the use of those tools. You could say the status quo is the human use of AI, with AI being the technology. 80% of respondents said they think this will be one of the biggest areas of growth in the use and need for market data going forward.
In all honesty, there are many different themes and trends running through this. It is an area that continues to grow. It remains slightly under the radar, but every business needs people who understand this because it will drive them going forward—not just in terms of how they work with their clients, but how they manage their costs and their technology stack. This is super interesting. Click on the link and have a look. If you have anything to do with data within the buy side, look through the full report. There will also be a webinar in November where we will talk in more detail with various members of product from SIX. Come and see that to understand what is going on, what is in the report, what Coalition Greenwich sees across their research in this space, and how it can help your business. Thanks, David. See you there.
David Easthope: See you there.