Data sources
// per-vendor disclosure · refresh cadence · license posture
Tapeboard sources real-time US equity quotes from the Charles Schwab API, SEC filings and Form 4 / 13F feeds direct from EDGAR, macroeconomic series from FRED, options chains and GEX from a licensed commercial vendor, and squeeze-score inputs from FINRA, SEC failures-to-deliver, and IBKR stock-loan inventory.
How to read this page
Every data point that appears on Tapeboard resolves to one row in the table below. The row names the vendor, the refresh cadence we honor, and the license terms governing the data. Rows tagged FLAG have a placeholder where Zac still needs to fill the vendor name or the license posture; those rows are not yet shippable to public surfaces and the methodology page links carry the same disclosure.
This page is the disclosure surface that the methodology page cites by reference. Comparison pages (the /alternatives/* slugs) cite the squeeze-score inputs and the equities-quote rows below as their primary-source basis. Inputs include short interest, float utilization, and failures-to-deliver.
Per-vendor disclosure
| DATA TYPE | SOURCE | REFRESH CADENCE | LICENSE / ATTRIBUTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time US equity quotes | Charles Schwab API (OAuth) | Real-time for authenticated paid users; 15-min delayed for public views per Schwab license. | Schwab Developer agreement; consolidated-tape exchange fees apply per Schwab account status. |
| US equity quotes (fallback) | Finnhub | Real-time on the licensed plan we run on; delayed-tier on free accounts. | Finnhub commercial API license. |
| SEC filings (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K) | SEC EDGAR (direct) | Sub-90 seconds post-publish via the EDGAR RSS feed. | Public-domain US government data. Attribution to SEC EDGAR maintained on every filing card. |
| Insider transactions (Form 4) | SEC EDGAR Form 4 feed (direct) | Sub-90 seconds post-publish. | Public-domain US government data. |
| 13F institutional holdings | SEC EDGAR Form 13F feed (direct) | Quarterly per filer. Published within 45 days of quarter end per SEC rule. | Public-domain US government data. |
| Macroeconomic series | FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) | Daily for high-frequency series (yields, FX, commodities); on the publisher release schedule for low-frequency series (CPI, PCE, NFP, GDP). FRED series ID cited inline on every macro chart. | Public domain plus FRED attribution. Series-ID citation maintained on every chart. |
| News headlinesFLAG | [ TBD-VENDOR. Flag for Zac to fill the news aggregator name. Current candidates: Finnhub, FMP, or a direct RSS aggregation. ] | Real-time during US market hours; lower-frequency outside hours. | Headlines and link-outs only. Article body text and publishing rights belong to the originating publisher. |
| Options chains and GEX inputsFLAG | [ TBD-VENDOR. Flag for Zac to fill the options-data vendor name. License terms are paid commercial, not free-tier. ] | End-of-day open interest from settled CBOE feed; intraday IV from the vendor. | [ TBD. Record commercial license terms when vendor name is filled in. ] |
| Squeeze score input: failures-to-deliver | SEC failures-to-deliver data (direct) | Bi-monthly publish from SEC. | Public-domain US government data. |
| Squeeze score input: short interest | FINRA bi-monthly short-interest report, retrieved via Yahoo Finance defaultKeyStatistics | Bi-monthly settlement, ~10 business-day publish lag. | FINRA short-interest publication terms; Yahoo Finance pass-through used for retrieval convenience. |
| Squeeze score input: float utilization and borrow feeFLAG | [ TBD-VENDOR. Flag for Zac to confirm: Interactive Brokers stock-loan inventory via iborrowdesk.com is the current source. License posture for redistribution should be verified before this page goes live to public. ] | Daily after 9 PM ET. | [ TBD. Confirm IBKR / iborrowdesk redistribution terms. ] |
How vendors are chosen and reviewed
Tapeboard's vendor-selection rules are written down so the table above is not a moving target. The rules are unromantic on purpose. Pick the source closest to the regulator or the exchange, document the fallback, disclose the gap.
Primary-source preference. When a regulator (SEC, FINRA, CBOE) or a national exchange publishes a feed directly, Tapeboard pulls from that feed rather than from an aggregator. SEC EDGAR, FRED, and the SEC failures-to-deliver dataset are tier-1 government sources; the page cites them by their canonical URLs above and never routes through a third-party redistributor.
Named fallback chains. Every primary feed has a named fallback. When Schwab returns null on an equity quote, Finnhub takes the request, but only on that exception path, never as a silent override. The fallback choice is logged so the editorial desk can see when a primary source is degrading.
License-posture review. Every vendor row above lists the license under which Tapeboard redistributes the data. Rows tagged FLAG have license posture that still needs to be verified before the page can ship to a fully public surface. Those rows are visible inside the product, but the editorial desk treats them as blockers for any public-tier marketing claim that depends on them.
Quarterly review. The full table above is reviewed every quarter on the same Jan 15 / Apr 15 / Jul 15 / Oct 15 cadence as the methodology and comparison pages. Any vendor that has changed pricing, license terms, or refresh cadence triggers an update; the methodology page carries the cron details.
Data is not investment advice
Tapeboard is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, or commodity trading advisor. The data published on Tapeboard, including everything sourced through the vendors above, is delivered for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing on Tapeboard is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security.
Data may be delayed, incomplete, or inaccurate. Verify before acting. See the full Risk Disclaimer and the Data Disclosures page for additional terms.
Last reviewed
This data-sources page is reviewed quarterly along with the rest of the editorial-system review cycle, and immediately whenever a vendor contract changes, a fallback path is added or removed, or a license-posture line above is found to be incorrect.
Last reviewed: 2026-05-03. Editor: Marcus Reilly. Operator: Tapeboard.