The APAC Opportunity

A Brief for Databento — by brvno

February 2026

APAC Market Data Is Broken


Asia-Pacific is home to 7 of the world's 10 largest stock exchanges by trading volume. Over 50 exchanges operate across 15+ jurisdictions, each with distinct protocols, access requirements, and data formats. The region accounts for more than 40% of global equity trading and is the fastest-growing market for quantitative and algorithmic strategies.

For institutional firms, accessing this data means navigating a landscape of legacy vendors. A Bloomberg terminal costs $24,000+/year per seat. Refinitiv and ICE demand multi-year enterprise contracts with six-figure minimums. Procurement cycles stretch 3–6 months. For smaller firms, the barrier isn't technical — it's commercial.

50+
Exchanges across APAC
15+
Jurisdictions & regulatory regimes
40%
Of global equity trading volume

The new wave of APAC market participants — quant startups in Melbourne, prop desks in Hong Kong, fintechs in Seoul and Singapore — need something different: API-first access, transparent pricing, and the ability to start with one exchange and scale. No vendor paperwork. No six-month onboarding.

The thesis: The same disruption Databento brought to US market data — pay-as-you-go, API-first, unified schema — is the APAC opportunity waiting to happen. The product model is ready. The question is who's going to build the regional pipeline.

Where Databento Stands in APAC


Databento's APAC position is early but strategic. The company already touches the region through reference data, and the infrastructure to expand is in place.

Reference data: live today. Databento's security master and corporate actions products cover 215+ venues globally, including major APAC exchanges — ASX, TSE, HKEX, SGX, KRX, TWSE, SSE, SZSE, BSE, NSE, and more. Eighteen years of point-in-time data across 860,000+ instruments. APAC firms can already use Databento for security master lookups, symbology mapping, and corporate actions — a natural entry point for deeper relationships.

Market data feeds: US and Europe. Databento currently offers tick-level data from 60+ venues concentrated on US equities (NASDAQ, NYSE, IEX), US futures (CME Globex), US options (OPRA), and select European exchanges (ICE, Eurex). The unified schema, pay-per-use pricing, and API simplicity that differentiate Databento are proven at scale in these markets.

APAC tick data: the most-requested expansion. ASX, TSE, NSE, and other APAC venues are among the highest-voted feature requests on Databento's public roadmap. The demand signal is clear and measurable.

What this means: Databento has the reference data bridge, the unified schema, and proven market demand. APAC expansion isn't starting from zero — it's the logical next step. What's needed is someone on the ground who understands both the product and the region.

APAC Exchange Landscape


Major APAC exchanges where Databento already provides reference data coverage (security master, corporate actions, symbology) — the foundation for expanded market data feeds.

Australia
  • Australian Securities Exchange ASX
  • Cboe Australia CXA
  • Sydney Stock Exchange SSX
  • National Stock Exchange of AU NSX
Japan
  • Tokyo Stock Exchange TSE
  • Nagoya Stock Exchange NSE-J
  • Fukuoka Stock Exchange FKA
  • Sapporo Securities Exchange SPR
Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong Stock Exchange HKEX
  • HK–Shanghai Connect (SB) SHSC
  • HK–Shenzhen Connect (SB) SZSC
China
  • Shanghai Stock Exchange SSE
  • Shenzhen Stock Exchange SZSE
  • China Interbank Bond Mkt CIBM
  • Stock Connect (Northbound) NB
South Korea
  • Korea Stock Exchange KRX
  • Korea New Exchange KONEX
India
  • National Stock Exchange NSE
  • Bombay Stock Exchange BSE
  • Metropolitan Stock Exch. MSE
Singapore
  • Singapore Exchange SGX
Taiwan
  • Taiwan Stock Exchange TWSE
  • Taipei Exchange TPEx
Reference data available today (security master, corporate actions) Tick-level market data — roadmap / community-requested

See It In Action


A Melbourne quant fund pays $24K/year per Bloomberg seat just to pull historical futures data. With Databento's pay-per-query model, they only pay for what they use.

Backtesting Cost Calculator Interactive
Bloomberg Terminal Seats 3
15101520
Databento Queries / Month 50
5125250375500
Bloomberg $72,000/yr
3 seats × $24,000/yr
Databento $7,200/yr
~50 queries/mo × $12 avg
90%
annual savings
$64,800/year

A Hong Kong prop desk manages three separate vendor integrations — each with different field names, formats, and update cycles. 30% of engineering time goes to data normalization instead of alpha.

Schema Unification Interactive
Vendor A Reuters
RICESZ4
BID5,614.75
ASK5,615.00
BIDSIZE142
ASKSIZE98
Vendor B Bloomberg
TICKERESA Index
PX_BID5614.75
PX_ASK5615
BID_SIZE142
ASK_SIZE98
Vendor C ICE
symES 202412
bidPrice5614.750
askPrice5615.000
bidQty142
askQty98
Databento Unified Schema
symbolESZ4RIC / TICKER / sym
bid_px5614.75BID / PX_BID / bidPrice
ask_px5615.00ASK / PX_ASK / askPrice
bid_sz142BIDSIZE / BID_SIZE / bidQty
ask_sz98ASKSIZE / ASK_SIZE / askQty

A Seoul fintech needs live futures data but legacy vendors demand $50K minimums and 12-month contracts. With Databento, they're streaming multi-asset data in seconds.

Live Data Stream Simulated
Time to first data
databento.live — GLBX.MDP3 disconnected
TIMESTAMP SYMBOL PRICE SIZE SIDE
$ client.subscribe(symbols=["ES.FUT","CL.FUT","GC.FUT"])
Waiting to connect…
Legacy vendor
Contract negotiation Onboarding Integration Testing
3–6 months
Databento
pip install → subscribe → streaming
~5 seconds

Interested in APAC market data?
Let's talk.