Is US stock market data free by default?

Sometimes our US stock data may seem incomplete or slightly different from other sources. You’ll find the most noticeable deviations usually on lower timeframes (i.e. 1 min), on non-active or unpopular tickers and during pre-/post-market sessions, which have a lower trading volume.

The reason for this is, by default, our charts display real-time US stock data from the Cboe exchange. It’s an alternative exchange with high trading volume, actually over one fourth (25%+) of the US stock market. It doesn’t have any per-user fees imposed by the exchange, meaning you can use it in real-time without paying for it. Cboe data for US stocks isn’t bad or wrong. Sometimes it can be just a bit different, mainly because the trading volume is lower vs primary exchanges, and – as a result – it offers fewer price updates.

Considering the volume traded on Cboe, this difference would not even be noticeable in most cases or does not make any impact on your analysis. But if this difference is crucial for you, you’ll need to buy real-time data from the primary exchanges (NASDAQ, NYSE, or NYSE Arca). As per exchange regulations, we must collect these payments and remit them to the exchange, plus notify them of who’s accessing their data.