Market data APIs, alternative data and quant research infrastructure

Ledgerstone is a practical index of financial data sources, trading datasets and research infrastructure for builders, analysts and systematic investors.

Built for market-data evaluation, quant research, backtesting, data engineering and investment workflows.

Abstract map of market data, filings, alternative data and research infrastructure

Search by intent

Common financial-data queries

Start with the dataset or infrastructure question closest to your use case.

Financial data work rarely fails because there is no data. It fails because the data is mis-specified, mispriced, misaligned with the strategy, difficult to licence, hard to normalise or too slow for the intended workflow.

Ledgerstone organises financial-data sources by query, resolution, use case and operational constraint.

Use cases

Built for serious data work

Market-data selection

Compare APIs, feeds, coverage, latency, licensing, asset classes and historical depth.

Quant research

Understand the data requirements behind signals, backtests, features and validation workflows.

Trading infrastructure

Separate batch research data, real-time feeds, order book data and low-latency production needs.

Data procurement

Evaluate source transparency, survivorship bias, corporate actions, redistribution rights and operational risk.

Data types

Where financial data work usually begins

CategoryTypical sourcesCommon use
OHLCV dataMarket data APIs, exchange data, vendor feedsCharts, screening, basic backtests
Tick dataExchange feeds, specialist vendorsIntraday research, execution analysis, microstructure
Order book dataLevel 2 feeds, crypto exchanges, specialist vendorsMarket microstructure, liquidity, HFT research
Fundamental dataFilings, statements, vendor-normalised datasetsEquity research, factor models, screening
Alternative dataWeb, app, card, geolocation, jobs, news, satelliteSignal discovery and differentiated research
Economic dataCentral banks, statistical agencies, macro APIsMacro analysis, rates, allocation models
Options dataOPRA-derived vendors, exchange feeds, specialist APIsVolatility, Greeks, flow, derivatives research
News and textNews APIs, filings, transcripts, NLP pipelinesEvent detection, sentiment, narrative analysis

Guides

Initial data infrastructure guides

Market data APIA practical guide to market data APIs, including real-time feeds, historical prices, asset-class coverage, latency, licensing and integration checks.Financial data APIA practical guide to financial data APIs for prices, fundamentals, filings, macro data, options, news and alternative data workflows.Historical market dataA practical guide to historical market data, including OHLCV, tick data, corporate actions, survivorship bias and backtesting requirements.Tick dataA practical guide to tick data, including trades, quotes, timestamps, market microstructure, storage and research use cases.Order book dataA guide to order book data, including Level 2 market data, bid-ask depth, liquidity, exchange feeds and HFT research considerations.Alternative data providersA practical guide to alternative data providers, including web data, geolocation, app, jobs, news, satellite and transaction-derived datasets.Hedge fund data sourcesA practical guide to hedge fund data sources, including market data, fundamentals, filings, alternative data and research infrastructure.Quant research toolsA practical guide to quant research tools, including data sources, notebooks, feature stores, backtesting, experiment tracking and production handoff.Backtesting dataA practical guide to backtesting data, including historical prices, corporate actions, survivorship bias, point-in-time data and transaction costs.SEC filings dataA practical guide to SEC filings data, including company filings, APIs, XBRL, text extraction, event detection and research workflows.Economic data APIA guide to economic data APIs, including macro indicators, central bank data, statistical agencies, release calendars and revision caveats.Options data APIA practical guide to options data APIs, including options chains, Greeks, implied volatility, historical options data and licensing considerations.

Suggest a source

Suggest a useful market data source, API, vendor or research tool.

charlie@coxswain.uk