Crisil Coalition Greenwich and SIX survey 73 global buy-side and sell-side firms worldwide; 70% considering European consolidated tape provider

Crisil Coalition Greenwich and SIX survey 73 global buy-side and sell-side firms worldwide; 70% considering European consolidated tape provider

Market data 2026: Emerging technologies demand trusted data Q3 2026

2 | CRISIL COALITION GREENWICH Executive summary Crisil Coalition Greenwich, in partnership with SIX for the fourth consecutive year, gathered responses from 73 global buy-side and sell- side firms to understand how market data consumption, sourcing and delivery needs are changing. The research provides a snapshot of the evolving market data landscape, including demand for real-time data, tick data, reliable delivery, and high-quality data services. The report also examines how artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), cloud infrastructure and application programming interfaces ( APIs) are changing market data requirements, with firms placing greater emphasis on accuracy, reliability, latency, accessibility, and ease of integration. As we move toward 2027, market data needs continue to evolve, driven by changing user workflows, emerging technologies and shifting market structure, including the European consolidated tape. Key takeaways:

J Market data providers have a big role to play in the emergence of AI. Eighty-six percent of respondents are using or evaluating AI in their investment and trading workflows and many see a positive return on investment (ROI). Moreover, 88% also believe market data providers can help ensure AI accuracy and reliability. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in investment and operational workflows, providers can play a greater role in enabling AI by delivering trusted, well-structured and easily accessible data.

J Data providers remain essential in a mixed sourcing landscape. Market data sourcing remains mixed; 67% of respondents use vendors or redistributors, while 60% take data directly from primary exchange sources. Direct sourcing and on-demand platforms are more common in the United States and the United Kingdom, but vendors and redistributors remain widely used. CONTENTS 2 Executive summary 4 AI adoption increases the need for trusted market data partnerships 4 Direct market data sourcing remains popular 5 Real-time data becomes more pervasive 7 The role of real-time data and tick data 8 The consolidated tape and European market structure 9 The evolving role of MCP in the industry 10 Market data spending: Quality still matters most, and cost consciousness is on the rise 12 Market structure changes increase demand for trusted datasets 13 Implications for market data professionals David Easthope advises on market structure and technology globally. 88% of participants believe market data providers can help ensure AI accuracy and reliability

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J Growing cloud adoption is increasing demand for reliable and scalable market data delivery. Cloud continues to be a common deployment model for market data applications, with 61% of respondents hosting applications in the cloud. Cloud-based delivery is expected to grow further, with 86% of respondents expecting more direct data access to be enabled through cloud over the next three to five years.

J API adoption reinforces the value of timely, structured market data. Streaming APIs are now used by 84% of respondents, up from 80% in 2025. APIs are becoming a preferred access method for high-performance market data delivery, helping firms integrate timely and structured data into investment workflows and decision-making.

J Real-time data is widely used, but its value depends on data quality and latency. Real-time data usage is stable, with 56% of respondents using it throughout the day. Trade execution remains the leading use case for real-time data, cited by 67% of respondents and driven mainly by the U.S. and U.K., followed by risk and operations. Many firms also create their tick data from the real-time data they already ingest. Although cost consciousness is rising, data quality and latency remain the most important priorities for real-time data users.

J Market structure change increases demand for trusted consolidated data. European market structure is changing, and 70% of respondents are considering adding a European consolidated tape provider. The European CTP is expected to have a variety of positive impacts, chief among them visibility and investor confidence. Almost half also believe it will boost trading volumes over time.

J AI-ready workflows based on Model Context Protocol (MCP) depend on accessible, trusted market data. Fifty- eight percent of respondents are engaged with or considering MCP. Among those familiar with MCP, more than half are using or testing an MCP server. This suggests that data providers will need to support new ways of making trusted market data accessible to AI-enabled workflows, as they play a big role in supporting data teams with accurate, reliable, well-structured, well-governed, and easily accessible data for AI workflows. METHODOLOGY This report is a continuation of our annual research series designed to better understand the trends and challenges of market data consumption by the buy side (asset managers and wealth managers/private banks) and sell side (investment banks and broker dealers) in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. Between May and June 2026, Crisil Coalition Greenwich gathered responses from 65 buy-side and 8 sell-side firms. The majority of responses were from professionals in front-office and middle-office roles, including portfolio management, trading, research, and market data specialists. Respondents 34% 34% 32% Note: Based on 73 respondents. Source: Coalition Greenwich 2026 Market Data Study U.S. Europe U.K. Investment bank/Broker-dealer Primary market 45% 11% 44% Wealth manager/Private bank Asset manager Organization type 89% 11% Buy side Sell side Segment

4 | CRISIL COALITION GREENWICH AI adoption increases the need for trusted market data partnerships AI adoption continues to be widespread, with 86% of respondents using or evaluating AI in their investment and trading workflows. Moreover, AI use is expanding beyond recommendations to support greater decision-making. Predictive analytics is also gaining more relevance, with 40% of respondents using it to support decision-making. The perception of AI ROI is also broadly positive, with 96% of respondents rating ROI as neutral, good or very good. Data quality is perhaps an overlooked factor in the adoption of market data into AI workflows. To achieve greater critical mass, we see data quality and transparency as driving factors to improve the use of AI across trading and investing. Moreover, trading depends on real-time information, so more real-time data will be necessary to support greater AI adoption in investment decision-making and trading. The adoption of AI has significant implications for the specific role of market data professionals, who must prioritize investments in AI-friendly data infrastructure. Moreover, AI adoption also has direct implications for market data teams as data must be accurate, reliable, well-structured, well-governed, and accessible for AI-enabled workflows. Cloud, APIs, MCP, and real-time delivery are important access models, but their value depends on the quality, reliability and accuracy of the underlying data. Eighty-eight percent of our respondents agree that market data providers can help ensure the accuracy and reliability of AI. We believe high-quality, accurate data is the foundation for market data providers to become trusted AI partners to these market data teams. Data providers have a big role to play, given the speed at which AI is emerging in the industry. Direct market data sourcing remains popular Market data continues to be consumed via a variety of methods, with the overall mix shifting only gradually from year to year. Similar to last year, the top choice is receiving data from market data vendors or redistributors, at 67%. Redistributors clearly offer value by aggregating and normalizing different data types and integrating them into workflows. However, consuming data directly from primary sources remains very popular at 60%, while on-demand platforms have not increased share but remain a core feature of the market.

5 | CRISIL COALITION GREENWICH Real-time data becomes more pervasive Real-time data, which we define as both real-time streaming and intraday snapshot data, remains widely used among respondents. As markets expand their trading hours, including some 23/5 trading environments in certain asset classes, the trading ecosystem becomes more dependent on real-time updates. Prediction markets and weekend trading are prime examples of increased real-time data demand. Moreover, real-time data use continues to move well beyond the front office into the middle office. Fifty-six percent of respondents use real-time data throughout the day, with the U.S. slightly more inclined to use it for trade execution than the U.K. and Europe. We believe data frequency requirements are becoming more aligned across the trade life cycle. Historically, real-time data was used primarily at the point of trade, but it is now increasingly used for operations, risk and compliance, and end-user display. How market data is received from providers Note: Numbers in parentheses represent number of respondents. Source: Coalition Greenwich 2026 Market Data Study Directly from market data vendors/redistributors U.S./U.K. (48) Europe (25) 73% 63% 48% 48% 67% 56% 56% 36% 28% 2025 (50) 2026 (73) 2024 (65) By year By region 74% 57% 60% 58% 65% 44% 56% 57% 41% 54% 0% Directly from the primary source (e.g., the exchange) Packaged with third-party software/applications On-demand platforms (e.g., AWS, Google, Databricks, Snowflake) 8% 16% 11% 0% 0% From a European consolidated tape provider

6 | CRISIL COALITION GREENWICH Real-time data is more expensive and not always necessary, particularly in the back office, where end-of-day or intraday snapshots suffice. However, we believe the uptick in real-time data use suggests that a wider range of firms and functions, particularly in the U.S. and U.K., see the value of this data relative to its cost. Use cases for real-time data Note: Numbers in parentheses represent number of respondents. Source: Coalition Greenwich 2026 Market Data Study Trade execution U.S./U.K. (42) Europe (22) 71% 60% 55% 64% 67% 59% 59% 59% 41% 2025 (48) 2026 (64) 2024 (57) By year By region 54% 65% 59% 71% 54% 56% 52% 56% 56% 52% 46% Risk and compliance Trade operations End-user display 48% 55% 50% 63% 53% Portfolio validation/ reporting 26% 2% 14% 0% 22% 21% 23% 2% 2% 5% Brokerage Other

7 | CRISIL COALITION GREENWICH The role of real-time data and tick data Tick data is also an important feature of the market, with 72% of respondents using it for market and trade surveillance, well up from previous years. The demand for both real-time data and tick data is driven by the need for faster and more accurate insights as inputs to transaction cost analysis (TCA), surveillance platforms and, of course, trading strategies. Data providers must continue to prioritize latency improvements, with 78% of respondents willing to pay for lower latency delivery. In fact, the primary reason to change real-time providers is for better quality or latency, even as costs have risen. Cloud and API-driven solutions will be increasingly critical in supporting real-time data delivery, with 84% of respondents using streaming APIs. However, for intraday and end-of-day data, file delivery remains important and manageable, especially in Europe. Areas of tick data use Note: Numbers in parentheses represent number of respondents. *Factors inhibiting use of tick data:

1. Tick data API is unavailable 2. Lack of internal resources to manage tick data. Source: Coalition Greenwich 2026 Market Data Study Market/Trade surveillance U.S./U.K. (38) Europe (15) 68% 63% 50% 53% 80% 40% 73% 47% 2025 (54) 2026 (53) By year By region Transaction cost analysis (TCA) Arriv