---
title: "Crisil Coalition Greenwich and SIX survey 73 global buy-side and sell-side firms worldwide; 70% considering European consolidated tape provider"
sdDatePublished: "2026-09-04T10:11:00Z"
source: "https://www.six-group.com/dam/download/financial-information/reference-pricing-data/market-data/six-greenwich-market-data-study-2026.pdf"
topics:
  - name: "financial service"
    identifier: "medtop:20001370"
  - name: "technology and engineering"
    identifier: "medtop:20000756"
  - name: "economy, business and finance"
    identifier: "medtop:04000000"
locations:
  - "United Kingdom"
  - "United States"
---


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

3 | CRISIL COALITION GREENWICH

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