Live, delayed, historical and stale prices: know the difference
Understand quote timestamps, feed connectivity and the difference between a fresh page and fresh market data.
A connection is not a fresh price
A successful network request shows that two systems communicated. It does not prove that a new market trade occurred. A feed can remain connected while the last traded price is old. Upstox documents separate fields for the last traded price and last traded time, and uses connection ping frames when there is no data to stream.
Read both timestamps
Market time describes when the underlying market observation happened. Received time describes when an application received it. The difference can help reveal delivery lag, but the age of the market observation still matters. Displaying the current clock next to an old quote would obscure that distinction.
Historical candles answer a different question
A candle summarises a period using open, high, low, close and volume where supplied. Even a newly fetched historical series is not an executable current quote. Its last candle may be incomplete, and its interval matters. Compare like-for-like intervals before using a chart in analysis.
Delayed and stale are different states
Delayed data is intentionally delivered behind the market under a defined service arrangement. Stale data is too old for the action being considered. The acceptable freshness policy depends on the instrument and workflow. An intraday action needs a different assessment from reviewing a long-term historical chart.
Closed markets need an honest label
When the market is closed, a valid last traded price can remain useful for review. It should be labelled as the last known observation with its actual time. It must not be presented as a newly traded price simply because the app is open.
What to expect from KAVIX
KAVIX should show the source and actual age of data, distinguish historical charts from quotes, and block price-dependent actions when freshness is unknown. If an account, network or feed is unavailable, the interface should explain the state and offer an appropriate retry or reconnect. No substitute market values are acceptable.