Rithmic, LLC announced today that it is making live equity market data from IEX available for free through its front end screens, R | Trader™, R | Trader Pro™, and through 3rd party screens that have incorporated Rithmic’s R | API+ libraries. “Rithmic is pleased to be able to provide live streaming equity market data to its users without charge”, said Jonathan Walden, Rithmic’s CEO. “We plan to provide this market data, without charge, into this summer. If the response is positive, and market conditions are favorable, we may be able to extend this offering longer.”
Given that they are not paying for the data in the first place ,this is more a marketing stunt than anything else. Market Data fees Internal Distribution Fee FREE External Distribution Fee FREE Usage Fee FREE (From https://www.iextrading.com/trading/)
Well there are network costs, software development costs, etc. Given what NYSE is doing, I welcome any vendor going in this direction for whatever reason.