Yes. Any LLC, fund, partnership, corporation, foundation, family office, prop firm, or trust receiving the data is automatically professional, regardless of who owns the entity. The size of the entity does not matter. If you also hold a separate personal account for your own money, that personal use may still qualify as non-professional.
Licensing FAQ
How real-time market data licensing works
Real-time market data carries license fees set by the exchanges, in addition to the algoseek data license. This page provides guidelines for classification, exchange fee examples, what you can do with your data, and how streaming pricing works with packages.
Are you professional or non-professional
This is the single biggest factor in your exchange streaming license cost. The classification requirements are set by each individual exchange. Answer five questions to get guidance on where you fall.
Classification FAQ
-
Are you professional if you access the data through a business entity?
+
-
What if you trade or research on behalf of others?
+
You are professional. This includes any role where you receive compensation for advice, signals, model outputs, or research from anyone other than yourself. It also covers trading on behalf of clients, investors, or a fund, and any arrangement where someone other than you benefits from the data or its outputs.
-
Does your professional background change the answer?
+
Not if you are trading only for your own account. A quant trader at a hedge fund who, on the side, runs only their personal IRA and a personal brokerage account using algoseek data is non-professional for that personal use. The classification follows the use, not the person.
-
Who sets these rules?
+
The exchanges and the SEC. algoseek acts as a vendor of record on behalf of the exchanges and is responsible to enforce the exchange regulations. Professional exchange fees are paid directly to the exchanges.
-
Does regulatory registration make you professional?
+
Yes. Registration or qualification with any securities or futures regulator makes you professional. This includes the SEC, FINRA, CFTC, and NFA in the United States, the FCA in the United Kingdom, ESMA member regulators in Europe, ASIC in Australia, and any equivalent body anywhere else. Series 7, Series 65, and equivalent licenses count whether or not they are currently active.
-
Does working at a financial firm make you professional?
+
If the market data use is related to your work or business, you are professional. If you are classified as professional but the data is strictly for your own personal use and not related to your work, you are classified as professional unless you receive an exception from the exchange.
-
When do you qualify as non-professional?
+
If none of the above apply. You trade only your own money in your own personal account, hold no regulatory registration, and are not employed by a financial firm in a data-facing role. The declaration is made formally during onboarding, and you are responsible for updating algoseek if your circumstances change.
Exchange license fees
When you add streaming real-time or delayed feeds, there are exchange fees which are separate from algoseek’s license fees.
Exchange licensing fees are complex and based on the type of feed you subscribe to, professional versus non-professional, and how you are using it (display versus non-display). The following gives sample fees specifically for a trading firm that is using computers to create buy and sell signals for trading, which is classified as non-display. These are exchange fees, not algoseek fees.
| Asset class and feed | Non-professional | Professional |
|---|---|---|
| US equities (CTA) Network A (NYSE-listed) + Network B (regional). Non-display Category 1 |
$2/mo $1/mo per network |
$6,000/mo Network A: $2,000 last sale + $2,000 quotes + $2,000 indirect access. Network B: $1,000 last sale + $1,000 quotes + $1,000 indirect access |
| US equities (UTP) Tape C (Nasdaq-listed securities) |
$1/mo | $4,000/mo |
| US equity options (OPRA) Consolidated options feed, all 18 exchanges |
$1.25/mo per user | $2,000/mo Exception for single-person professional may apply |
| US futures: CME Includes depth of market |
Per month: Real-time feed: $610 User non-display: $457 |
Per month: Real-time feed: $610 Non-display, 1 app: $609 |
| US futures: CBOT Includes depth of market |
Per month: Real-time feed: $610 User non-display: $457 |
Per month: Real-time feed: $610 Non-display, 1 app: $609 |
| US futures: NYMEX Includes depth of market |
Per month: Real-time feed: $610 User non-display: $457 |
Per month: Real-time feed: $610 Non-display, 1 app: $609 |
| US futures: COMEX Includes depth of market |
Per month: Real-time feed: $610 User non-display: $457 |
Per month: Real-time feed: $610 Non-display, 1 app: $609 |
| Delayed feeds: CTA Typically 15 minutes |
No exchange fees | No exchange fees |
| Delayed feeds: UTP Typically 15 minutes |
No exchange fees | $250/year |
| Delayed feeds: OPRA Typically 15 minutes |
No exchange fees | No exchange fees |
| Delayed feeds: CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX Per exchange |
Per month: Delayed feed: $304 User non-display: $457 |
Per month: Delayed feed: $304 Non-display, 1 app: $609 |
| Historical data: CTA | No exchange fees | No exchange fees |
| Historical data: UTP | No exchange fees | No exchange fees |
| Historical data: OPRA | No exchange fees | No exchange fees |
| Historical data: CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX | No exchange fees | No exchange fees |
Fees as published by the exchanges, current as of January 2026. Subject to change at exchange discretion.
These are sample fees for receiving a streaming data feed for algorithmic use (non-display). This information is for guidance only. Exchange fees are complicated and all decisions are made by the exchanges. algoseek acts as a vendor of record on behalf of the exchanges and is responsible to enforce the exchange regulations.
algoseek streaming real-time and delayed pricing
Streaming real-time and delayed data is licensed separately from historical data.
Historical data: no exchange fees
While algoseek as vendor of record is required to have a license agreement with the client, there are no fees currently imposed by the exchanges for historical data. Clients can start with historical data for their research and apply for a streaming license when ready.
Streaming data: exchange fees apply
The algoseek streaming price covers the data delivery service, infrastructure, and support. Exchange fees are paid separately and on top of algoseek’s license fees. For real-time feeds, there may be additional delivery components depending on the method: co-location, internet delivery, or dedicated bandwidth.
50% off streaming with a package
If you have an algoseek asset class package and bundle in a streaming feed for that same asset class, the algoseek streaming data price is 50% of list price. The reduction applies to the data price only, not the exchange license fees, which are set by the exchanges. A team with the Equities Package that adds streaming equity trades and minute bars pays half the listed streaming price for those feeds.
Usage rights for algoseek data
The exchange fees above are separate from the algoseek data license. Below are the most common questions that clients ask.
Your data, your way
Can I download the data?
Yes. Download the data, as much as you like, and store it wherever you control.
Where am I allowed to store the data?
Any computer that you manage or control. Cloud, physical computers in a data center, in the office, or on your laptops. There is no geographic restriction and no requirement to store within a specific cloud provider.
How many users does a license cover?
Up to 10 concurrent users by default, on packages and individual datasets alike. A quant team is rarely larger than that. For more than 10 users, additional blocks of 5 or 10 are available, or an enterprise license.
End of license and options
What happens at the end of the license?
You delete all the raw algoseek data. Your derived data stays with you.
Can I buy the data outright?
Yes. You can buy the data at any time for a one-time payment. You own it in perpetuity, with no user limit. Buy pricing is a sales conversation.
Can I share the data with a partner firm or a co-investor?
No. The license is for internal use within the licensed entity. Sharing the raw data with a separate firm requires a separate license. For platform-style use, see the fintech section below.
What counts as your IP and what does not
The line is whether the original algoseek data could be reverse-engineered from what you produced.
This counts as derived
Signals. Sampled data. Statistical outputs from the original dataset or from combining multiple datasets. Anything that cannot be reverse-engineered back into or close to the raw algoseek dataset.
Examples. A regression coefficient. A trained model. A backtest result. A daily P&L series. A signal published as plus or minus one. A sentiment score derived by combining algoseek with another vendor.
This does not count as derived
A simple transformation that lets the original be reconstructed. The standard example is a midpoint price calculated from the bid and the ask. Once you have midpoints by timestamp, the original quote stream is recoverable, so a midpoint dataset is not derived.
Other examples. A reformatted CSV. A reordered table. A subset of the raw data with the same fields. A recompressed file.
Your research output is yours to keep, even after the license ends. The raw algoseek data is returned or deleted. If you are unsure whether something you have built counts as derived, ask us before the question becomes a problem.
Building a fintech product that uses the data
The standard license on the pricing page is designed for internal use by a fund, research team, or trading team. It does not cover redistribution, display to end users, or embedding in a product. If you are building a fintech, a broker, an analytics platform, a research portal, or anything else where the data or its outputs are visible or accessible to your customers, you need a different exchange license.
algoseek works actively with fintechs to help you understand the required exchange licensing. Discussion topics to determine the right structure may include: redistribution, display rights, end user accounts, raw data versus derived data, and query through interface, as each of these can change an exchange license requirement. algoseek will also discuss its licensing fees based on your requirements.
A 30-minute call usually establishes the right structure.
See it before you sign anything
Up to a year of historical data across all asset classes. Jupyter, SQL, Excel. No credit card, no sales call required.
Talk to our team
Custom licensing, enterprise pricing, streaming infrastructure, or a question about a specific dataset? Talk to a person who has worked with the data, not just read about it.
Why algoseek
Chosen by two US regulators after they compared every vendor. Battle-hardened security masters built and maintained by algoseek.