Tapeboard sources real-time US equity quotes from a licensed market-data vendor, SEC filings and Form 4 / 13F feeds direct from EDGAR, macroeconomic series from FRED, options chains and GEX from a licensed brokerage market-data API, trading halts from the public exchange halt feed, and squeeze-board inputs from FINRA and brokerage stock-loan availability data.
How to read this page
Every data point that appears on Tapeboard resolves to one row in the table below. The row names the vendor, the refresh cadence we honor, and the license terms governing the data. Where a vendor is described generically ("licensed commercial vendor"), that is a deliberate disclosure posture — the cadence and license terms are still stated.
This page is the disclosure surface that the methodology page cites by reference. Comparison pages (the /alternatives/* slugs) cite the squeeze-score inputs and the equities-quote rows below as their primary-source basis. Inputs and context include short interest, float utilization, borrow fee and daily short-sale volume.
Per-vendor disclosure
| DATA TYPE | SOURCE | REFRESH CADENCE | LICENSE / ATTRIBUTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time US equity quotes | Licensed real-time market-data vendor | Real-time for authenticated paid users; 15-min delayed for public views per the data license. | Commercial market-data agreement; consolidated-tape exchange fees apply per account status. |
| US equity quotes (backup path) | Brokerage snapshot service and public web quote sources, plus a licensed trade-tick feed for streaming backup | Used only when the primary quote source returns nothing for a symbol. Treated as delayed; the fallback is logged. | Delayed-redistributable terms for public views; the tick feed is a commercial API license used as a streaming backup only. |
| SEC filings (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K) | SEC EDGAR (direct) | Within minutes post-publish via the SEC EDGAR full-text search index (SEC-side index lag varies; measured up to about 9 minutes). | Public-domain US government data. Attribution to SEC EDGAR maintained on every filing card. |
| Insider transactions (Form 4) | SEC EDGAR Form 4 feed (direct) | Within minutes post-publish. | Public-domain US government data. |
| 13F institutional holdings | SEC EDGAR Form 13F feed (direct) | Quarterly per filer. Published within 45 days of quarter end per SEC rule. | Public-domain US government data. |
| Macroeconomic series | FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) | Daily for high-frequency series (yields, FX, commodities); on the publisher release schedule for low-frequency series (CPI, PCE, NFP, GDP). FRED series ID cited inline on every macro chart. | Public domain plus FRED attribution. Series-ID citation maintained on every chart. |
| News headlines | Licensed market-data news feeds, direct publisher RSS and public news-search RSS | Real-time during US market hours; lower-frequency outside hours. | Headlines and link-outs only. Article body text and publishing rights belong to the originating publisher. |
| Options chains and GEX inputs | Licensed brokerage market-data API (options chains) | Delayed chain snapshots sampled during market hours. Open interest is as published by the data provider and updates once a day. | Delayed-redistributable under our market-data agreement. GEX and max pain are Tapeboard calculations from these chains. |
| Institutional ownership summary (Pro) | Licensed market-data vendor | Follows each filer's quarterly 13F cadence; shown with its as-of date and never as real-time ownership. | Commercial API license; Pro tier only. The EDGAR 13F holdings view above is the primary-source alternative. |
| Trading halts | NASDAQ Trader trading-halt feed (public exchange feed) | Polled during market hours; the halts page refreshes every 15 seconds. The day's record is frozen each evening. | Public exchange data, shown with reason codes as published. |
| Crypto, forex and commodities quotes | Public cryptocurrency exchange and aggregator APIs; licensed and public market-data sources for forex and commodities | Near real-time for crypto; delayed for forex and commodities on public views. | Public API terms and commercial market-data agreements; presented as indicative quotes, not executable prices. |
| Earnings and economic calendars | Exchange-published earnings calendar, a public economic-calendar feed and FRED release dates | Refreshed daily; dates can change at the issuer or publisher, so confirm with the primary announcement. | Public schedule data. |
| Company profile and revenue breakdown | Third-party public reference dataset, loaded nightly | Nightly load; each profile shows the period it covers. | Reference data shown for context, with no redistribution claim beyond the facts displayed. |
| Squeeze board context: daily short-sale volume | FINRA Reg SHO daily short-sale volume files | Every trading day, published after the close. | FINRA publication terms. Shown as context beside the score, not as a score input. |
| Squeeze score input: short interest | FINRA bi-monthly short-interest report; float denominators from third-party reference data | Bi-monthly settlement, ~10 business-day publish lag. | FINRA short-interest publication terms. |
| Squeeze score input: float utilization and borrow fee | Brokerage stock-loan availability data | Nightly on trading days, about 9 PM ET. | Aggregated availability indications, not exchange or consolidated-tape data; presented as directional inputs to the squeeze score, never as quotes. |
How vendors are chosen and reviewed
Tapeboard's vendor-selection rules are written down so the table above is not a moving target. The rules are unromantic on purpose. Pick the source closest to the regulator or the exchange, document the fallback, disclose the gap.
Primary-source preference. When a regulator (SEC, FINRA) or a national exchange publishes a feed directly, Tapeboard pulls from that feed rather than from an aggregator. SEC EDGAR, FRED and the FINRA short-interest and short-volume files are tier-1 regulator sources; the page cites them by their canonical URLs above and does not route them through a third-party redistributor.
Named fallback chains. Every primary feed has a named fallback. When the primary feed returns null on an equity quote, the backup feed takes the request, but only on that exception path, never as a silent override. The fallback choice is logged so the editorial desk can see when a primary source is degrading.
License-posture review. Every vendor row above lists the license under which Tapeboard redistributes the data. Data that has not cleared license review does not appear on public surfaces, and no public-tier marketing claim is allowed to depend on it.
Quarterly review. The full table above is reviewed every quarter on the same Jan 15 / Apr 15 / Jul 15 / Oct 15 cadence, by checking each row against the services the code actually calls as the methodology and comparison pages. Any vendor that has changed pricing, license terms, or refresh cadence triggers an update; the methodology page carries the cron details.
Data is not investment advice
Tapeboard is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, or commodity trading advisor. The data published on Tapeboard, including everything sourced through the vendors above, is delivered for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing on Tapeboard is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security.
Data may be delayed, incomplete, or inaccurate. Verify before acting. See the full Risk Disclaimer and the Data Disclosures page for additional terms.
Last reviewed
This data-sources page is reviewed quarterly along with the rest of the editorial-system review cycle, and immediately whenever a vendor contract changes, a fallback path is added or removed, or a license-posture line above is found to be incorrect.
Last reviewed: . Next review due: 2027-01-15. Editor: Marcus Reilly. Operator: Tapeboard.