Exchange agreements · subscriber status · entitlements

The data is licensed, not sold.

Every field the scans filter on comes from an exchange that licenses it under contract. Before a terminal turns on, three things have to be settled: which feeds you need, whether you qualify for non-professional rates, and which subscriber agreements you sign. None of it is difficult — but it is not optional, and getting the status question wrong is expensive in retrospect.

Step one: your subscriber status

This single determination is the largest variable in what you pay. Exchange fees at professional rates commonly run an order of magnitude above non-professional rates for the same feeds.

The default is Professional. Under Nasdaq's data policies, all subscribers are deemed professional unless they qualify as non-professional. You are not classified as retail by default — you have to affirmatively qualify, and the distributor has to verify it.

The definition

NYSE defines a nonprofessional subscriber as any natural person who receives market data solely for personal, non-business use and who is not a securities professional. Nasdaq's definition is materially the same. Both hinge on the same two tests: you are a natural person, and the use is personal.

Answer these honestly

You qualify as non-professional only if the first statement is true and every statement after it is false.

Must be true. You use market data solely for your own personal, non-business purposes.
Must be false. The account is opened in the name of a business, partnership, corporation, LLC or any other entity.
Must be false. You are registered or qualified with the SEC, the CFTC, any state securities agency, any securities exchange or association, or any commodities or futures contract market or association.
Must be false. You are engaged as an investment advisor as that term is defined in the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, whether or not you are registered as one.
Must be false. You are employed by a bank or other organisation exempt from registration, performing functions that would require registration were the organisation not exempt.
Must be false. You use the data in connection with any trade or business, or distribute it to anyone else.

Trading your own money full-time does not make you professional. A natural person trading a personal account, not registered anywhere and not advising anyone, generally qualifies as non-professional regardless of volume or income. Registration status and business use are the tests, not how seriously you take it.

Misclassification is billed backwards. NYSE policy places liability on the vendor for retroactive fees at the professional rate where a subscriber was incorrectly qualified — and vendors pass that through. If your circumstances change mid-subscription, report it at the time rather than at renewal.

Step two: the agreements

Each exchange licenses its own data and requires its own signed subscriber agreement. These are executed once per person and stay on file with the distributor.

Nasdaq UTP: Nasdaq Subscriber Agreement — covers Level 1 UQDF / UTDF for Nasdaq-listed securities
CTA / CQ: NYSE-administered subscriber agreement — covers CQS / CTS consolidated quotes and trades for Tape A and B
Nasdaq TotalView: Depth-of-book entitlement, added to the Nasdaq agreement — also carries the imbalance indicator
NYSE OpenBook: NYSE proprietary depth product, separate entitlement under the NYSE agreements
NYSE Imbalances: Auction imbalance feed, entitled separately — required for the closing-auction scans
Arca / Amex: NYSE Arca Book and Trades, Amex OpenBook — each entitled individually
Cboe / BATS: BZX and BYX depth of book
Cboe EDGX / EDGA: Depth of book for both venues
NSX: Depth of book

Your distributor supplies the current agreement set at signup and reports subscriber counts to each exchange monthly. You do not contract with the exchanges directly.

Step three: which entitlements each scan needs

Not every scan requires the full feed set. If you are entitling selectively, this is the dependency map.

Entitlement	Scans	What it unlocks
Level 1 — UQDF / UTDF, CQS / CTS	all 42	Price, volume, net change, VWAP, relative volume, day high and low. The baseline every scan reads from.
Depth of book — TotalView, OpenBook, BZX, BYX, EDGX, EDGA	33, 34, 35, 39	Bid Net, Ask Net, %Bid Net, %Ask Net. Without depth, order-flow pressure cannot be computed at all.
NYSE Imbalances	35, 37	ImbNY, match quantity, imbalance time and side for the closing auction.
Nasdaq imbalance indicator	38	ImbNQ with near price, far price and paired quantity.
NYSE Alerts	41, 42	Trading state, halt and reopening messages, LULD band proximity.
Stock locator / borrow	22, 40	Hard-to-borrow status and borrow cost as filterable fields. Sourced from the locate provider, not an exchange.
Full tick stream	07, 08, 09, 18	Tick count, tick repeat count and volume rate on a rolling window. Requires every print rather than aggregated volume.

Ten scans have no consolidated-tape equivalent. Scans 07, 08, 09, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39 and 41 depend on depth, imbalance, tick or alert feeds. They are the reason the entitlement list is longer than a retail screener's, and the reason those screeners cannot offer them.

Start the application

Send this and you get back the agreement set matched to your status, a fee schedule for the entitlements you selected, and an install package. Nothing is charged until the agreements are signed.

Full legal name

Exchange subscriber agreements are executed by a natural person, so this must match your government identification.

Account type

subscriber status

Based on the six statements above, which applies?

I qualify as non-professional I am a professional subscriber Not sure — review with me

Your answer is a starting point. Final classification is made by the distributor on the signed agreement, and exchanges require it to be verified rather than self-declared.

entitlements

Level 1 consolidated — required, all 42 scans Depth of book — order-flow scans 33, 34, 35, 39 NYSE and Nasdaq imbalance — auction scans 35, 37, 38 NYSE Alerts — halt and trading-state scans 41, 42 Stock locator — borrow scans 22, 40

Anything else worth knowing

Or email info@takiontechnologies.com directly.

Questions worth asking before you sign

Can I entitle feeds selectively?

Yes. Level 1 is required for every scan; depth, imbalance, alerts and borrow are individually entitled. Start with Level 1 and add the others as the scans that need them earn their keep.

What changes my status mid-year?

Taking a registration, joining a firm in a role requiring one, opening the account under an entity, or beginning to advise others. Any of these moves you to professional from that date.

Does colocation change the data question?

No. Proximity hosting affects where the client runs, not what you are entitled to receive. The subscriber agreements are the same either way.

Who determines status, finally?

The distributor, on the signed agreement, subject to exchange audit. Self-assessment on this page is a guide to help you arrive prepared — it is not a determination, and nothing here is legal or compliance advice.

Get a second opinion where it matters. If your situation sits near a line — a family office, an LLC used for tax purposes, part-time advisory work — have your compliance counsel review the classification before signing rather than after an audit.