Data feed, broker and platform, and who does what

Data feed, broker and platform are three separate jobs in a futures order flow setup, and most traders pay a different company for each one. A data feed is the service that carries the exchange's prices, quotes and trades to your computer. A broker is the firm that holds your account, checks your margin and sends your orders to the exchange. A platform is the software that draws the data and gives you the controls to place orders. This note follows one invented order through all three layers in Liquivue, then shows where each part of the monthly bill goes.

Who does each job

Rithmic is a connection that many futures brokers offer for both data and orders. The note on what Rithmic provides covers how platforms log in to it. The NinjaTrader bridge is the other route into Liquivue. NinjaTrader 8 holds the connection, and the bridge passes its data to Liquivue on the same computer. The note on using NinjaTrader as a data bridge covers that setup.

One order through each layer

All numbers below are invented. The contract is MES, the Micro E-mini S&P 500 future. One tick is 0.25 points and is worth US$1.25 per contract.

1. At 10:02:15 the trader clicks the bid column of the Liquivue DOM to buy 2 MES at 5,050.00. Liquivue sends the order over the Rithmic connection.
2. The broker's risk system checks the account. In this example the broker asks for US$100 of day margin per contract, and the account holds US$2,500, so the order passes.
3. CME receives the order and places it in the queue at 5,050.00 behind 140 contracts that arrived first.
4. Sellers trade 142 contracts at 5,050.00 over the next 40 seconds. CME fills the 140 ahead of the trader, then the trader's 2.
5. The data feed carries each of those trades to Liquivue, which draws them as trade bubbles on the heatmap. The fill report comes back through the broker connection.
6. Liquivue position tracking shows a size of 2 and an entry of 5,050.00, with profit and loss counted from there.

Steps 1 and 6 happen in the platform. Step 2 happens at the broker. Steps 3 and 4 happen at the exchange, and step 5 depends on the data feed. If the trader set a session max loss in Liquivue, the platform enforces it by cancelling orders, closing the position and locking trading for the session. The broker's margin check in step 2 is a separate limit that the broker sets.

Which layer to check when something goes wrong

If the heatmap freezes while orders still fill, check the data feed and the exchange entitlement first. The broker connection is still working, because the fills arrive.

A rejection that mentions margin or buying power comes from the broker. No chart setting changes it.

A volume profile that looks different from a friend's chart on the same contract usually comes from platform settings, such as row size or session start. The note on why delta differs between two platforms works through that kind of gap.

What one month costs in this example

The software price below is Liquivue's published price. The other lines are example figures, not quotes. Your own data feed, exchange status and broker set them.

The example month comes to €20 plus US$120. Only €20 of that pays for the platform. Change brokers and the commission line changes. Change platforms and only the licence line changes. The costs page keeps each platform's price in its original currency, and the note on CME data fees for a retail trader covers the data line.

How other platforms split the same jobs

Bookmap sells BookmapData, which is data and not brokerage, so orders still need a supported broker connection. Live futures analysis in Bookmap starts with Global at US$49 a month, and live futures execution needs Global+ at US$99 a month. ATAS states that it does not supply its own live data. Live futures in ATAS need the Pro plan at €69.95 a month or Ultra at €89.95. NinjaTrader can be the platform itself, or it can hold the connection for Liquivue through the bridge.

For a trader comparing Bookmap alternatives for futures, the licence is the line that a platform choice changes. Liquivue costs €20 a month, the lowest of the three licence prices in this section. It also puts the heatmap, the DOM and order entry in one browser workspace, which needs a desktop browser with WebGPU.

A check you can run

Write down the name of your data provider, your broker and your platform. Next to each, write the monthly charge from your last statement and the jobs that company does for you. If one line on your statement has no company and no job next to it, ask the company that billed it what it covers.