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Posted August 14, 2025 at 10:15 am
In financial markets, timing is everything. A split-second decision can turn a potential loss into a profitable trade.
As market dynamics grow increasingly complex, the importance of accurate, timely and comprehensive data has never been more crucial. Staying ahead also requires instant access to real-time market data, where the interplay of supply and demand, geopolitical events and macroeconomic indicators can shift in seconds. However, the mere provision of real-time data is not the end of the story. A robust approach to trading requires a deep understanding of historical patterns, long-term market trends and underlying fundamental drivers to construct and refine effective trading strategies.
Central to this solution are two powerful tools: the CME Group Websocket API and the CME Group DataMine API. These APIs together provide market participants with a critical and holistic data source. The Websocket API ensures that traders are always up to date with the latest market movements, while the DataMine API allows traders to delve into the past to understand the context and underlying dynamics that drive those movements.
This integrated data solution is especially valuable in specialized and critical sectors like the To-Be-Announced (TBA) market. The TBA market, a key component of the mortgage industry, is essential for trading mortgage-backed securities (MBS) before the specific loan details are finalized and allocated. Its unique structure facilitates efficient price discovery and risk transfer in the mortgage sector.
The TBA market is the second-largest cash market in capital markets, just behind the U.S. Treasury bond market. Its substantial depth and transaction volume make it the primary channel for capital and investment into the mortgage origination market, directly influencing mortgage rates and the broader housing economy. Therefore, access to timely and comprehensive data on this market is important for anyone operating within or exposed to the mortgage and fixed-income sectors.
MIAC Analytics is an industry leader in mortgage pricing models, TBA pricing data and analytical solutions. Integrating real-time data from CME Group’s TBA futures market through the WebSocket API has transformed their TBA market execution.
“The current mechanisms for price discovery and price execution in the over-the-counter (OTC) market do not fully utilize the benefits of having an exchange-traded product, which the CME TBA futures contract offers to potential users,” said Paul Van Valkenburg, Principal at MIAC Analytics. “With CME’s live bids and offers, a user can see an execution in the OTC market at a bid of 101, while simultaneously observing a bid of 101 and two ticks in the CME market and executing electronically on the screen.”
This integration highlights the importance of real-time pricing data in improving the efficiency and accuracy of trading decisions, particularly in a market as dynamic as the TBA market.
In addition to the immediate benefits of real-time data, historical data can aid in the development of trading strategies. The continuous availability of CME Group’s historical futures data enables traders to:
The combination of real-time data for execution and historical analysis for strategy development can provide traders in the mortgage rate market or any futures market with an edge. This approach not only improves the accuracy of price discovery and trade execution, but simultaneously strengthens risk management decisions.
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Originally Posted on August 4, 2025 – How Data-Driven Decisions Are Reshaping the Mortgage Market
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