Which BIN/IIN data vendors provide real‑time feeds versus periodic file updates and what are their update cadences?
Executive summary
The documents supplied do not include direct, authoritative lists of BIN/IIN data vendors or their specific delivery cadences, so no source here can definitively map which BIN/IIN vendors offer real‑time APIs versus periodic file drops; instead, the available reporting describes how market‑data vendors position real‑time versus batch delivery and the technical/contractual choices buyers face, which is the best analog for BIN/IIN services in the absence of BIN‑specific sources [1] [2] real-time-and-delayed-data-service/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[3] [4] [5].
1. What "real‑time" means in vendor marketing — and why it matters
Vendors commonly advertise "real‑time" as a streaming API or managed feed with sub‑millisecond or microsecond latency; Databento, for example, promotes subscribing to every venue update in a single API call and claims median latencies in the single‑digit microseconds from venue handoff to application delivery, which positions it as a managed low‑latency feed provider rather than a batch supplier [1]. dxFeed likewise frames its offering as streaming normalized real‑time and delayed market data directly from exchanges [3] [6], and Bloomberg's B‑PIPE is explicitly described as enabling consolidated, normalized market data in real time [5]. These are market‑data examples a buyer should view as analogous: "real‑time" can be direct TCP/UDP streaming or low‑latency APIs designed for continuous updates, not periodic file dumps [1] [3] [5].
2. Periodic file updates and bulk feeds — how vendors describe them
Large vendors and exchanges typically offer a spectrum from ultra‑low latency streams to bulk or historical feeds; LSEG explicitly advertises choices across the latency spectrum including consolidated feeds, historical data, query‑ready tables, bulk feeds and managed services, which are the mechanisms vendors use when they cannot or choose not to provide continuous streaming [2] [7]. The industry language therefore distinguishes "real‑time streaming/API" from "bulk/APIs/FTP periodic updates" — the latter commonly delivered as end‑of‑day, nightly, or scheduled batch files rather than event‑driven pushes [2].
3. Contractual and licensing realities that affect cadence
Access to official real‑time feeds often requires vendor agreements and exchange or regulator licensing that can determine both delivery method and cadence; FINRA, for instance, requires a vendor agreement for receipt of Real‑Time TRACE data whether delivered by feed, API or FTP, signaling that licensing and vendor class (direct vs retransmission) affect whether data is available as a continuous feed or as periodic files [4]. That legal and commercial friction frequently explains why some providers only offer periodic snapshots or delayed data while others invest in low‑latency infrastructure to deliver continuous streams [4] [2].
4. Technical and commercial tradeoffs that decide feed cadence
The technical investment for true continuous feeds—FPGA/SmartNIC capture, specialised feed gateways, language/runtime tuning for microsecond latency—is nontrivial and is used as a competitive differentiator in marketing (Databento cites Napatech hardware and Rust/C implementations to achieve microsecond latencies) [1]. Providers that do not present such infrastructure tend to offer normalized streaming with higher latency or periodic bulk/delayed products; dxFeed positions itself as streaming normalized real‑time and delayed data, indicating gradations in timeliness within the same vendor [3] [6].
5. Practical guidance given the limits of available reporting
Because none of the supplied sources list BIN/IIN vendors or catalog their cadences, any definitive mapping of BIN/IIN providers to "real‑time feed" versus "periodic file update" must come from direct vendor documentation and contractual terms; for a practical checklist, buyers should request explicit latency metrics and delivery mechanisms (streaming socket, webhooks, REST, FTP), ask about licensing requirements and retransmission status, and verify whether historical/bulk options are provided for reconciliation or only end‑of‑day snapshots — all distinctions visible in the market‑data vendor practices exemplified by Databento, LSEG, dxFeed and Bloomberg in the supplied materials [1] [2] [3] [5] [4].