Valuation of companies, investments and portfolios
After a transaction has been executed, market data allow for the respective trading decision to be evaluated retrospectively. For example, it becomes clear whether the broker who executed the transaction on an exchange for an investor executed it at the “best possible” conditions. In this way, an investor can compare, and decide which provider to place his transactions with in the future. In the same way, market data enable the valuation of an entire portfolio or individual positions and thus provide information on the profitability of investments made or risk profiles.
Anyone who trades on the stock exchange needs reliable and high-quality market data. This starts with something as simple as a current share price. In addition, traders in particular need insight into available volumes, i.e. how many shares are currently tradeable at a given price. Trading decisions are often also based on additional information, such as current news, the company’s business figures, macro-economic parameters (such as current economic data) or the price trend over the last few days, weeks or months (historical data). Traders use these data to make their trading decisions. Since not all investors need the same data, however, the stock exchange offers different data products that differ in terms of data depth and content. Private investors can also obtain these data.
Market surveillance on stock exchanges
By means of trading surveillance and market supervision, stock exchanges ensure that pricing takes place properly and that market manipulation is prevented. These “market maintenance activities”, which also benefit the pricing process, are another reason for the particular quality of market data.
Passive investment strategies
Passive investment strategies based on exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are making up an increasingly significant share of the total investment volume. ETFs are usually based on indices. In order to develop and structure indices, index administrators need reliable and correct stock exchange data, among other things.