MetaStock Market Data in 2026: DataLink, XENITH & the Costs

Why it matters

Good analysis on bad data is still bad analysis

Every indicator, scan and backtest in MetaStock is arithmetic on price data. Feed it inaccurate or gap-riddled prices and the arithmetic is confidently wrong: a moving-average crossover on bad data is a bad signal drawn neatly. The old-era advice on this page still holds in 2026: what you want from a data provider is accuracy, deep history, and automatic handling of the housekeeping, especially stock splits, so a 2-for-1 split shows as a smooth chart instead of a fake 50% crash.

MetaStock is designed around its own feeds, which keeps the plumbing invisible: connect the subscription at signup, type a symbol, and prices appear on demand, no manual download ritual. There are two feeds to know about.

End of day

DataLink: the end-of-day workhorse

DataLink is the end-of-day service and the natural partner for MetaStock D/C. Per symbol it delivers date, open, high, low, close, volume and open interest, with deep history behind it and split adjustments applied automatically. For an after-the-close trader, that is the whole requirement: the day's data, clean, in time for the evening's analysis.

Indicatively, DataLink runs about US$27.95/month, or about US$299/year if paid annually. Treat those as indicative and confirm at MetaStock's checkout; offers move around. Paired with D/C's software subscription (indicatively about US$59/month), a complete end-of-day setup lands somewhere in the vicinity of US$87 a month, less if you take annual or one-time options.

Real time

XENITH: news, fundamentals and live prices

XENITH is the modern successor to the Reuters-era QuoteCenter: a Refinitiv-powered terminal that puts news, fundamentals and market data alongside your MetaStock charts. It is the closest a private trader gets to the information layer professionals work with, and it comes in two flavours:

XENITH with D/C, indicatively about US$39.95/month: the news and fundamentals terminal for end-of-day traders who want context with their charts.
Full real-time XENITH, indicatively about US$165/month: the live feed that powers MetaStock R/T for intraday trading. With R/T's software subscription on top, expect roughly US$265/month all-in.

XENITH terminal showing news and market data alongside MetaStock charts — XENITH: Refinitiv-powered news & data beside the charts

As always, the numbers are indicative: exchange fees and packaging change, and MetaStock's checkout has the current figures. Note also that XENITH is for private, non-professional traders; professionals have separate exchange fee arrangements to sort out at signup.

Choosing

Match the feed to the trader, not the other way round

The decision is simpler than the pricing table makes it look:

You analyse after the close and place orders for tomorrow: D/C plus DataLink. This is most private traders, and it is the cheapest complete setup by a wide margin.
You want end-of-day trading with professional-grade news and fundamentals: D/C plus XENITH, or both feeds together.
You genuinely trade during the session: R/T plus full XENITH. Real-time costs real money; pay it only if intraday decisions are actually your method. The R/T page covers who this tier is for, and the forex page covers the currency-trader case.

Two honest cautions. First, budget the data as part of MetaStock's true cost from day one: a one-time software licence still needs a data subscription forever. Second, do not buy real-time data as an aspiration. Upgrading later is easy; paying US$265 a month to watch daily charts is not a plan. More pricing questions are answered plainly in the FAQ, and the getting-started guide shows where data connects in your first session.

See the data flowing before you commit to it

The 30-day trial puts the full software on your desk, so you can judge the charts, the feed and the workflow with your own symbols.

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