A Cboe Data Vantage Case Study
At a Glance
Client: 26 Degrees Global Markets — multi-asset prime broker serving broker-dealers and hedge funds across four continents
Challenge: Scale equities market data redistribution to millions of retail end users via their Broker clients without prohibitive per-user fees
Solution: Cboe Data Vantage with flexible redistribution and free end-user retail data
Results:
- Nearly 10 years of sustained growth from APAC specialist to multi-continent operation
- One of Cboe's largest data redistributors in Europe and the U.S.
- Millions of retail end users served via Broker clients profitably and reliably
- Significant growth in trading volumes, especially across Asia powered by Cboe One extended hours feed
The Challenge
26 Degrees provides prime brokerage to broker-dealers that serve retail traders. That model only works if they can offer institutional-grade market data at retail-friendly economics. But every traditional data vendor created impossible math:
Per-user fees that penalize growth. When your distribution network touches millions of retail clients, legacy per-user fees become existential.
" Our distribution network of institutional clients service millions of retail end users. When you have to pay a fee just for them to potentially want to trade, that's a massive roadblock — especially when they have the alternative of an OTC market maker providing free quote data."
— Liam Smith, COO, 26 Degrees Global Markets
Opaque pricing. Hidden fees made it impossible to model growth or maintain margins in a competitive market.
Inflexible redistribution policies. Every new client required renegotiation. Every new region meant revisiting licensing terms.
26 Degrees couldn't scale without data costs scaling faster.
The Cboe Solution
1. Redistribution Policies That Scale With Revenue, Not Headcount
No per-user fees. No renegotiations as you add clients. No surprise fees as you enter new markets. Pricing grows with your business, not against it.
2. Free Data for Retail End Users
This was the dealbreaker. Retail traders don't pay for quotes when they can get them free elsewhere. Cboe's free equities market data for retail (Europe and U.S.) makes it viable to compete for retail order flow. For 26 Degrees’ broker clients, this was the key to unlocking scale.
3. Institutional Quality at Retail Scale
Growth doesn't matter if your data is stale. 26 Degrees needed prices at or near NBBO/EBBO, low-latency feeds, and 99.9%+ uptime. Cboe delivered all three without the usual tradeoff between quality and cost.
The Results
Since partnering with Cboe nearly a decade ago, 26 Degrees has:
- Expanded globally from regional Australian player to multi-continent prime broker (Europe, Americas, APAC and MENA)
- Enabled institutional broker clients to scale to millions of underlying retail end users without hitting a cost ceiling on data licensing
- Entered new markets — particularly strong APAC growth driven by Cboe One extended hours feed enabling Asian clients to trade U.S. equities during their waking hours
- Maintained competitive positioning in a business where data costs can easily destroy unit economics
What This Means for You
If you're evaluating market data vendors for redistribution, ask:
- Do redistribution policies scale with your business? Or will per-user fees become prohibitive at volume?
- Can you offer free data to end users? If not, you're at a competitive disadvantage in retail.
- Is pricing transparent enough to forecast costs? Surprise fees kill margins.
- What's the uptime SLA? Stale quotes lead to client churn.
Ready to Scale Your Data Distribution?
Broker-dealers or prime brokers serving retail clients: → cboe.com/datavantage
Expanding into APAC or extended hours: → cboe.com/cboeone
The information provided is for general education and information purposes only. No statement provided should be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell a security, future, financial instrument, investment fund, or other investment product (collectively, a “financial product”), or to provide investment advice. Any case study or client outcome described is for illustrative purposes only, reflects specific circumstances, and is not indicative of future results or a guarantee of performance. It should not be viewed as a testimonial or endorsement. Before engaging in any transactions, market participants should carefully review the disclosures and disclaimers at: https://www.cboe.com/global-disclaimers/.
